199 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


FORT  TICONDEROGA 
IN  HISTORY 


BY 

HELEN  IVES  GILCHRIST,  M.A. 


Printed  for  the  Fort  Ticonderoga  Museum 


BY 

HELEN  IVES  GILCHRIST,  M.A. 


Printed  for  the  Fort  Ticonderoga  Museum 


E 

m 
^ 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
Champlain  and  the  Iroquois 


CHAPTER  II 
French  and  Indian  War  to  1758 16 

CHAPTER  III 
French  and  Indian  Wars — 1759 36 

CHAPTER  IV 
A  Time  of  Peace,  and  the  Revolution 49 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Pell  Family 98 

Bibliography 100 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Ruins  of  Ticonderoga,  1820 Frontispiece 

Saumel  de  Champlain 9 

Map  of  Part  of  the  Counties  of  Charlotte  and  Albany  in  the  Province 

of  New  York 10 

Peter  Schuyler 13 

Marquis  de  Yaudreuil 14 

The  Marquis  de  Montcalm 17 

Due  de  Levis 18 

Count  de  Bougainville 21 

Major  Robert  Rogers 22 

Map  of  the  French  Settlement  in  North  America 25 

Sir  William  Johnson,  Baronet 26 

George  Augustus,  Lord  Howe 29 

Major-General  John  Sullivan 30 

A  Perspective  View  of  Lake  George 33 

Major-General  John  Stark 34 

Major-General  Israel  Putnam 37 

Plan  of  Ticonderoga,  1758 38-39 

42nd  Highlanders,  The  Black  Watch  1751 43 

Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst 44 

Monument  to  Lieut. -Col.  Roger  Townshend  in  Westminster  Abbey . ...   47 

Reading  the  Declaration  of  Independence 48 

Map  of  Ticonderoga,  by  John  Trumbull.  1776 51 

Major-General  Charles  Lee 52 

Ethan  Allen 55 

Capture  of  Fort  by  Allen 56 

Ethan  Allen  and  Capt.  de  la  Place 59 

Facsimile  of  Letter  of  Ethan  Allen  to  the  Governor  of  Connecticut . .  .  60-61 

General  Benedict  Arnold 63 

General  Henry  Knox .  . 64 

Major-General  Philip  Schuyler 67 

Major-General  Horatio  Gates 68 

General  Benjamin  Lincoln 71 

Colonel  Barry  St.  Leger 72 

Battle  of  Valcour  Island,  1776 75 

General  Richard  Montgomery 76 

General  Antony  Wayne 79 

Major-General  Arthur  St.  Clair 80 


6  ILLUSTRATIONS 

General  Thaddeus  Kosciuszko 83 

General  John  Stark 84 

Sir  John  Burgoyne 87 

Baron  Reidesel 88 

Major-General  William  Phillips 91 

The  Pavilion,  Fort  Ticonderoga,  1826 92 

The  King's  Garden,  Fort  Ticonderoga 95 


CHAPTER  I 

CHAMPLAIN  AND  THE  IROQUOIS 

THE  history  of  Lake  Champlain  and  of  Ticonderoga  is 
Indian  French,  English  and  most  of  all,  American  history. 
Old  wars  are  often  the  beginnings  of  friendships  when 
they  are  fairly  fought.  France  and  England  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  the  same  taste  in  land,  the  same  appetite  for  explor- 
ing and  settling,  and  finally  the  same  trade  interests  to  bring 
about  a  conflict.  It  was  the  French  who  came  first  into  the 
region  of  the  lakes.  They  had  held  successfully  their  colonies 
along  the  St.  Lawrence,  had  made  friends  with  the  Indians 
thereabouts,  and  under  the  influence  of  that  splendid  adventurer, 
the  Sieur  de  Champlain,  became  interested  in  pushing  farther 
down  from  Quebec  into  that  region  of  lakes  and  rivers  which 
was  then,  simply  the  upper  extremity  of  the  territory  of  the 
Iroquois. 

It  was  in  1608  that  Champlain  came  again  to  America.  He 
had.  from  the  king  of  France,  a  commission  requiring  him  to 
explore,  and  to  found  a  settlement.  He  spent  the  long  winter 
at  Quebec,  learning,  adapting  himself  to  the  ways  of  the  woods, 
and  making  friends  with  the  Algonquin  Indians  who  trooped  to 
the  white  men's  town  partly  through  idle  curiosity,  and  partly 
as  one  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  something  strange  and  marvellous. 

In  the  spring  of  1609,  the  Indians  asked  for  a  practical  test  of 
the  wonders  they  had  seen  and  of  the  friendship  the  Frenchmen 
expressed  for  them.  The  white  men  shot  with  the  arquebus,  a 
matchlock  or  flintlock  gun,  and  the  effect  of  it  was  all  that  any 
Indian  could  desire  for  his  enemies.  With  the  firers  of  guns  as 
allies,  the  Montagnais,  a  tribe  of  the  Algonquins,  felt  that  they 
could  forever  cow  their  old  and  formidable  enemies,  the  Iroquois, 
who  held  the  land  to  the  south  of  them.  The  Hurons  who  were 

7 


8 

their  friends,  had  some  slight  connection  racially  with  the  Iro- 
quois,  but  on  the  whole  were  a  tribe  outside,  and  though  friendly 
to  the  Montagnais,  not  totally  to  be  relied  upon  as  allies  in  war. 

The  proposal  that  he  go  on  the  war  path  with  the  Montagnais 
was  not  displeasing  to  the  Sieur  de  Champlain.  With  them  he 
could  penetrate  farther  into  the  woods  than  he  could  without 
them.  He  loved  the  dangers  of  exploring,  and  he  had  always  in 
mind  that  he  was  advancing  France  in  the  New  World  and 
winning  to  her  sway  and  her  religion,  these  red  children.  His 
journal  shows  the  genuineness  of  his  amused  affection  for  them, 
a  factor  which  was  a  large  part  of  the  very  real  hold  he  had  upon 
them. 

It  was  in  May  of  1609  that  he  started  out  from  Quebec  on  this 
new  venture.  He  took  eleven  Frenchmen  with  him  besides 
the  small  contingent  of  Montagnais  and  between  two  and  three 
hundred  Hurons.  They  passed  Three  Rivers,  crossed  Lake 
St.  Peter  and  went  on  up  the  River  Richelieu  (since  variously 
named  the  St.  John,  the  Rivere  des  Iroquois,  the  Chambly, 
the  St.  Louis,  and  the  Sorel).  The  rapids  of  the  Richelieu 
halted  the  expedition  and  Champlain  had  occasion  to  rebuke 
his  Indian  friends  for  having  assured  him  that  there  was  a 
clear  water  way  to  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain.  At  the  rapids, 
three-fourths  of  the  Indians  seceded  from  the  adventure,  and 
Champlain,  still  eager  to  go  forward,  was  unwilling  to  risk  his 
French  companions  in  so  uncertain  an  enterprise.  For  himself 
he  seems  never  to  have  held  any  fear,  either  of  Indians  or  of 
natural  disasters  in  the  woods  or  on  stormy  waters.  He  always 
wanted  to  see  what  came  next. 

So  he  sent  back  all  but  two  of  his  white  followers,  and,  after  a 
portage  around  the  rapids,  proceeded.  The  force  now  numbered 
but  sixty  Indians,  and  the  fleet  that  carried  them  consisted  of 
twenty-four  canoes.  By  day  they  paddled,  but  now,  coming 
near  the  Iroquois  country,  they  encamped  at  night  with  some 
barricade  against  attack  though  the  Indians  would  set  no  watch. 
They  advanced  thus  up  Lake  Champlain.  They  had  not 
expected  to  stop  there,  but  to  go  on  down  to  the  lower  Iroquois 
region,  when  suddenly,  in  the  words  of  Champlain's  journal, 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 


10 


CHAMPLAIN   AND    THE    IROQUOIS  11 

"As  we  were  going  along  very  quietly,  and  without  making 
any  noise,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  the  month,  we  met  the  Iroquois 
at  ten  o'clock  at  night  on  the  end  of  a  cape  that  projects  into  the 
lake  on  the  west  side,  and  they  were  coming  to  war." 

What  this  cape,  now  famous  as  the  promontory  of  Ticonderoga 
was  called  then,  the  Sieur  de  Champlain  does  not  say.  Its 
natural  advantages  as  a  place  of  battle  had  drawn  the  Iroquois 
to  it,  and  it  may  be  that  they  had  already  named  it  Cheondaraga 
or  Ticonderoga  which  in  their  tongue  signified  "Between  two 
lakes." 

As  soon  as  the  two  bands  came  in  sight  of  one  another,  the 
Iroquois  drew  up  their  canoes  which  were  lighter  and  smaller 
than  those  of  the  Montagnais  and  Hurons,  while  Champlain's 
warriors  paddled  out  a  bow  shot  from  the  land  and  prepared  to 
spend  the  night  there.  They  fastened  all  but  two  of  the  canoes 
to  poles  which  held  them  together  in  one  mass  and  steadied  them. 
The  two  canoes  left  out  of  this  formation  were  paddled  ashore, 
and  the  Iroquois  were  asked  that  old  question,  "Do  you  want  to 
fight?" 

The  Iroquois  replied  that  they  desired  nothing  else,  says 
Champlain  gravely,  but  that  there  was  only  a  little  light,  and 
they  must  wait  for  day  if  they  were  to  tell  friend  from  foe. 
As  soon  as  the  sun  rose  they  would  fight. 

All  that  night,  the  Montagnais  in  their  boats  and  the  Iroquois 
on  shore  hurled  insults  back  and  forth.  ''Men  of  little  courage," 
the  Iroquois  called  their  foes  from  the  north,  feeble,  "unfit  to 
fight  the  warriors  of  the  southern  lakes  and  rivers."  The  three 
Frenchmen  being  the  Montagnais'  latest  war  invention,  their 
surprise  to  spring  on  the  enemy  in  battle  next  day,  were  kept 
concealed  through  the  night,  the  exultant  Indians  only  replying 
to  Iroquois  yells  that  they  should  soon  see  "such  power  of  arms  as 
never  before." 

Next  morning,  the  three  Frenchmen  put  on  their  armor  in  the 
canoes  and  were  paddled  ashore,  still  unseen  of  the  enemy. 
Then  the  Iroquois  came  out  of  their  barricade,  two  hundred 
strong,  an  impressive  company  of  tall,  sturdy  warriors  with  a 


12  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

dignity  and  assurance  which  pleased  the  veteran  of  European 
wars  much.  At  their  head  were  three  chiefs  wearing  the  dis- 
tinguishing feathers  in  their  head  dress.  The  Montagnais 
pointed  out  these  leaders  to  Champlain  and  assured  him  that 
the  three  must  be  killed  by  his  arquebus.  He  assured  the 
Montagnais  that  he  would  do  his  best.  Then  the  rest  of  the 
fleet  came  to  land,  and  the  Montagnais  ran  towards  the  Iroquois, 
stopping  about  two  hundred  paces  from  them.  Both  sides 
stood  firm,  and  then  the  invaders  began  to  call  for  their  champion, 
Champlain.  They  drew  apart  in  two  columns  between  which 
Champlain  advanced,  and  then,  twenty  paces  in  advance  of  them, 
he  led  the  Montagnais  until  he  was  within  thirty  paces  of  the 
astonished  Iroquois.  Despite  their  small  number,  the  Montag- 
nais were  confident  that  Champlain  and  his  arquebus  would 
make  up  the  difference  of  one  hundred  forty  in  numbers.  Then 
there  were  the  other  two  Frenchmen  who  had  slipped  unseen  into 
the  woods  and  were  moving  around  to  the  flank  of  the  foe. 
Champlain  waited  until  he  saw  the  Iroquois  about  to  raise  their 
bows  to  shoot.  Then, 

"I  rested  my  arquebus  against  my  cheek  and  aimed  directly 
at  one  of  the  three  chiefs.  With  the  same  shot  two  of  them 
fell  to  the  ground,  and  one  of  their  companions,  who  was  wounded 
and  afterwards  died.  I  put  four  balls  into  my  arquebus.  When 
our  men  saw  this  shot  so  favorable  for  them,  they  began  to 
make  cries  so  loud  that  one  could  not  have  heard  it  thunder." 

The  Iroquois  were  astounded,  but  they  stood  their  ground  and 
discharged  their  arrows  until  one  of  the  Frenchmen  hidden  in 
the  forest,  fired  and  claimed  another  of  their  men.  Then  they 
fled  to  the  woods  with  the  Montagnais  in  pursuit.  The  Iroquois 
succeeded  in  carrying  off  most  of  their  wounded,  but  some  ten 
or  twelve  warriors  were  captured  and  brought  in  by  the  allies 
for  torture  and  death.  Champlain  had  no  love  for  that  side  of 
the  Indian  character  and  when  his  Algonquins  saw  him  turn 
away  in  disgust  from  the  sight  of  their  ingenious  infliction  of 
pain,  they  finally  consented  to  let  him  end  one  wretch's  suffering 
by  a  ball  from  his  arquebus. 


PETER  SCHUYLER 
First  Mayor  of  Albany 

13 


MARQUIS  DE  VAUDREUIL 


14 


CHAMPLAIN  AND   THE   IROQUOIS  15 

Champlain  made  several  more  visits  to  New  France  and 
came  down  through  the  lake  country  on  expeditions  with  the 
Huron,  but  never  again  was  a  stand  made  against  him  at  Ticon- 
deroga.  The  Iroquois  never  forgave  him  nor  the  French  whom 
he  represented.  Their  reputation  in  war  had  been  seriously 
damaged,  and  they  valued  their  prestige.  More  than  a  century 
later,  they  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  English  against  the  French 
who  had  humbled  them. 

Champlain  attacked  the  Seneca  Iroquois  later,  near  Lake 
Canandagua,  and  there  he  was  wounded  and  carried  back  to 
Canada  on  the  back  of  an  Indian  warrior.  He  did  not  much  like 
the  impromptu  ambulance  service  and  has  briefly  recorded  his 
impression  that  it  was  "Hell." 

His  last  years  went  to  the  hard  and  somewhat  uncongenial 
work  of  managing  the  barely  held  colony  of  Quebec,  busying 
himself  with  the  problems  of  famine,  trouble  with  the  English, 
Indian  disputes  and  colony  squabbles.  At  last,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-eight,  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis,  and  on  Christmas 
day  of  the  year  1635,  he  died  in  the  colony  which  had  leaned  so 
heavily  upon  him  for  help  and  guidance. 

Parkman's  tribute  to  him  may  well  close  the  account  of  the 
life  of  this,  the  greatest  adventurer  and  truest  knight  errant  of 
the  many  France  sent  into  the  American  wilderness: 

"His  dauntless  courage  was  matched  by  an  unwearied  patience, 
a  patience  proved  by  life-long  vexations.  He  is  charged  with 
credulity,  from  which  few  of  his  age  were  free,  and  which  in  all 
ages  has  been  the  foible  of  earnest  and  generous  natures,  too 
ardent  to  criticise,  and  too  honorable  to  doubt  the  honor  of 

others A  soldier  from  his  youth,  in  an  age  of 

umbridled  license,  his  life  had  answered  to  his  maxims;  and  when 
.a  generation  had  passed  after  his  visit  to  the  Hurons,  their 
elders  remembered  with  astonishment  the  continence  of  the 
great  French  war-chief. 

"His  books  mark  the  man, — all  for  his  theme  and  his  purpose, 
nothing  for  himself.  Crude  in  style,  full  of  the  superficial 
errors  of  carelessness  and  haste,  rarely  diffuse,  often  brief  to  a 
fault,  they  bear  on  every  page  the  palpable  impress  of  truth." 


CHAPTER  II 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR  TO  1758 

FORT  VAUDREUIL,  the  predecessor  and  forerunner  of 
the  present  fort  on  the  heights  of  Ticonderoga,  was 
begun  in  1755,  but  the  reason  for  erecting  it  goes  back 
some  twenty  earlier.  The  English  settlements  in  lower  New 
York  and  the  French  hold  on  the  northern  region  merged  in  a 
debatable  country  along  Lake  Champlain  and  Lake  George, 
and  as  the  wars  between  France  and  England,  carried  on  in 
Europe,  increased  in  intensity  and  ill  will,  some  feeling  of  fric- 
tion naturally  developed  at  the  overlapping  lines  of  both  coun- 
tries' holdings  in  America.  In  the  year  1731,  the  French  seized 
a  promontory  opposite  Crown  Point,  and  then,  crossing  over, 
possessed  themselves  of  the  heights  on  the  west  shore  also.  By 
virtue  of  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  the  English  felt  that  this  section 
belonged  to  the  domains  of  the  Iroquois  and  that  it  was,  there- 
fore, under  the  protectorate  of  England. 

Meanwhile,  the  French  cleared  much  of  the  land  lying  between 
Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  and  there  was  some  trade  inter- 
course between  the  French  and  English  colonies.  Now  when 
the  French  had  erected  a  formidable  fortress  on  the  point  of 
land  which  they  had  seized,  the  English  colonists  began  to  fear 
French  aggression,  and  they  invoked  the  aid  of  their  home 
government.  It  was  not  until  1755  that  the  British  made  a 
decided  demand  that  the  French  destroy  their  stronghold,  and 
then,  instead  of  yielding  to  that  demand,  the  French  proceeded 
twenty  miles  farther  south  and  began  the  erection  of  Fort 
Vaudreuil  on  the  promontory  of  Ticonderoga.  This  post, 
Watson  says  in  his  "Pioneer  History  of  the  Champlain  Valley," 
"destined  to  a  terrible  celebrity,  became  the  most  extensive  and 
magnificent  fortress  in  America." 

16 


THE  MAROUIS  DE  MONTCALM 


17 


Dec  DE  LEVIS 


18 


FRENCH   AND   INDIAN  WAR  TO    1758  19 

This  first  of  the  forts  on  Ticonderoga  was  not  the  well-built 
structure  which  was  ready  to  face  attack  three  years  later.  The 
fort,  as  Lotbiniere  designed  it,  was  square,  with  four  bastions  of 
earth  and  timber,  but  his  plans  seem  to  have  grown  with  the 
unavoidable  realization  which  the  next  few  years  brought  forth, 
that  Ticonderoga  was  the  key  to  invasion  of  New  York  by  the 
French  or  of  Canada  by  the  English,  and  we  find  several  mentions 
of  the  strengthening  of  the  works  between  1755  and  1758. 

Major  Robert  Rogers,  leader  of  the  famous  rangers,  records 
in  his  journal  that  on  a  reconnoitering  expedition  from  the 
English  camp  on  Lake  George,  he  proceeded  to  a  point  of  land  on 
the  west  side  of  the  lake  and  marched  to  the  point  of  Ticonderoga 
where  he  and  his  companions  observed  a  body  of  men,  which 
they  judged  to  be  about  2000  in  number,  "who  had  thrown  up 
an  intrenchment,  and  prepared  large  quantities  of  hewn  timber 
in  the  adjacent  woods.  We  remained  here  the  second  night," 
he  adds,  "and  next  morning  (October  9,  1755)  saw  them  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  fort  on  that  point  which  commands  the  pass 
from  Lake  George  to  Lake  Champlain."  From  this  time  until 
the  fort  fell  into  English  hands,  it  seems  to  have  been  the  duty 
of  Roberts  with  his  rangers  to  patrol  this  region  and  keep  the 
British  posted  as  to  the  strength  of  the  garrison  at  Carillon. 
On  September  9,  1756,  he  says, 

"I  was  within  a  mile  of  Ticonderoga  fort  where  I  endeavored  to 
reconnoitre  the  enemy's  works  and  strength.  They  were 
engaged  in  raising  the  walls  of  the  fort  and  erected  a  large 
blockhouse  near  the  southeast  corner  of  the  fort  with  ports  in  it 
for  cannon.  East  from  the  blockhouse  was  a  battery  which  I 
imagined  commanded  the  lake." 

He  also  reports  the  French  to  be  building  a  sawmill  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  falls.  (September,  1756.) 

Rogers'  most  daring  exploit,  or  most  impudent  one,  was 
consummated  on  Christmas  eve  of  1757,  when  he  and  his  men 
came  close  enough  to  kill  about  seventeen  head  of  cattle  and  set 
fire  to  the  wood  piles  of  the  garrison  in  Carillon.  To  the  horns 
of  one  of  the  beeves,  he  attached  a  note  to  the  fort  commander: 


20  FORT  TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

"I  am  obliged  to  you,  sir,  for  the  repose  you  have  allowed  me 
to  take.  I  thank  you  for  the  fresh  meat  you  have  sent  me. 
I  will  take  care  of  my  prisoners.  I  request  you  to  present  my 
compliments  to  the  Marquis  de  Montcalm.  (Signed)  Rogers, 
Commander  of  the  Independent  Companies." 

The  work  which  Rogers  reported  was  chiefly  that  done  by 
Dieskau  and  his  men.  When  the  French  commander  advanced 
to  meet  Sir  William  Johnson  on  Lake  George  in  1755,  he 
fortified  the  heights  at  Ticonderoga  by  way  of  protecting  his 
rear.  Dieskau  himself  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner  in  that 
fight,  but  his  men,  falling  back  as  he  had  planned  they  should 
if  the  fortune  of  war  demanded  it,  continued  the  building  of  the 
Carillon  fort.  They  erected  a  storehouse  at  the  landing,  and 
a  sawmill  on  the  north  side  of  the  lower  falls,  at  the  time  that 
the  fort  on  the  hill  was  being  built.  The  site  of  the  sawmill  is 
now  marked  by  a  monument  commemorating  not  only  the 
building  of  the  mill,  but  that  it  was  the  headquarters  of  General 
James  Abercrombie  while  his  men  were  carrying  out  his  stupidly 
disastrous  orders  in  the  woods  above  him. 

During  the  season  of  1756,  more  than  2000  French  workmen 
were  constantly  engaged  upon  the  fort.  The  work  continued 
slowly  during  the  next  year  and  a  half.  It  did  not  always  go  on 
under  peaceful  conditions.  A  letter  from  Monsieur  de  Montreuil 
to  the  Minister  of  War  at  Montreal,  on  the  twentieth  of  April, 
1758,  reports  that  on  March  13,  of  that  year,  Monsieur  de  la 
Durentaye,  an  officer  of  the  colony  at  the  head  of  two  hundred 
savages  and  some  Canadians  entirely  destroyed  a  detachment  of 
160  English  whom  they  met  three  leagues  from  the  fort. 
"We  lost,"  his  report  closes,  "in  this  occasion,  20  savages  killed 
and  wounded." 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  year,  July  20,  Montcalm  wrote  to  the 
Minister  of  War  that  he  had  spent  fifteen  days  at  Carillon,  and 
that  he  had  found  the  work  of  the  fort,  begun  the  year  before, 
but  little  advanced.  He  says: 

"The  fort  is  of  pieces  of  wood  laid  with  traverses  and  with  the 
intervals  between  filled  with  earth." 


COUNT  DE  BOUGAINVILLE 


21 


MAJOR  ROBERT  ROGERS 


22 


FRENCH  AND   INDIAN  WAR  TO    1758  23 

Some  of  the  guns  which  defended  the  fort  were  brought  to 
Carillon,  as  the  French  called  Ticonderoga,  from  Fort  William 
Henry  in  the  spring  of  1757  when  Montcalm  captured  it  from 
General  Munro.  Montcalm  took  away  a  siege-train  of  twelve 
heavy  guns,  several  mortars,  and  a  large  supply  of  ammunition 
and  stores. 

The  French  had  decidedly  the  upper  hand  in  the  war  until 
the  Earl  of  Newcastle  retired  as  premier  of  England  and  William 
Pitt  came  in.  Then  General  Webb  who  had  been  afraid  to 
reinforce  Munro  at  Fort  William  Henry,  and  the  Earl  of  Loudon 
who  had  conducted  a  war  of  notes  and  inactivity,  were  swept  out, 
and  in  their  places  came  Sir  Jeffry  Amherst  and  General  James 
Wolfe.  They  were  good  complements  of  one  another,  Amherst 
slow  and  over-cautious,  Wolfe  daring  and  unexpected  in  his 
brilliant  moves.  It  was  of  Wolfe,  when  a  nervous  English  critic 
said  that  he  was  mad,  that  George  II  made  his  famous  retort: 

"Veil  den,  if  Volfe  is  mat,  I  vish  he  vould  pite  some  of  my 
udder  chenerals!" 

The  one  weak  spot  left  was  General  James  Abercrombie,  and 
to  cover  that  spot,  George  Augustus,  Lord  Howe,  was  sent  out  to 
campaign  with  him.  Pitt's  plans  were  to  secure  the  three  points 
of  France's  strength,  Quebec,  Louisburg,  and  Ticonderoga;  and 
for  the  taking  of  Ticonderoga,  Abercrombie  was  chosen,  still 
with  Lord  Howe  attached  to  his  forces,  and  with  the  redoubtable 
Rogers  and  his  rangers  among  the  band.  Sir  William  Johnson 
also  led  up  some  of  his  Iroquois  and  held  them  in  readiness  on 
Mount  Independence  across  the  lake,  but  they  were  not  used  in 
the  action.  Of  Abercrombie's  army,  Sloan  gives  a  clear  picture: 

"In  the  early  summer,  while  the  English  bombs  were  bursting 
over  doomed  Louisburg,  there  assembled  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
George  what  is  said  to  have  been  the  largest  number  of  white 
soldiers  hitherto  gathered  together  on  the  continent,  an  army  of 
fifteen  thousand  men,  six  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty 
seven  British  regulars,  and  nine  thousand  and  twenty-four 
American  provincials  chiefly  from  New  England,  New  York 
and  northern  New  Jersey.  Its  nominal  leader  was  Abercrombie 


24  FORT  TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

the  former  lieutenant  of  Lord  Loudon.  He  was  a  survivor  from 
the  regime  now  happily  passed  away,  and  was  dubbed  by  the 
rustic  wit  of  the  colonies,  'Nabbiecrombie.'  The  real  leader  was 
intended  to  be  Lord  Howe,  regarded  by  penetrating  men  like 

Wolfe  and  Pitt  as  the  mirror  of  military  virtue 

Among  the  colonial  officers  were  Captain  Stark  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Major  Israel  Putnam  of  Connecticut.  Every  prepara- 
tion which  human  foresight  could  suggest  had  been  made. 
Lord  Howe  and  his  regulars  had  thoroughly  drilled  themselves 
in  the  tactics  of  forest  fighting,  there  were  nine  hundred  bateaux 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  whale-boats  for  the  troops, 
with  stout  barges  for  the  artillery.  The  expedition  moved 
down  the  lake  on  July  fifth.  The  equipments  were  in  good 
order,  officers  and  men  in  high  spirits.  Early  next  morning  they 
landed  near  the  foot  of  the  west  shore,  at  a  point  still  known  as 
Howe's  Cove." 

From  this  point,  the  troops  had  to  march  through  the  woods 
to  reach  their  objective,  a  wild,  unbroken  way.  A  party  of 
French  skirmishers  three  hundred  in  number  under  Langy,  had 
been  sent  out  to  annoy  them.  The  English,  scrambling  over 
fallen  trees  and  skirting  ravines,  soon  lost  their  way,  and  as  the 
French  skirmishers  were  equally  at  a  loss  for  directions  in  the 
woods,  the  opposing  parties  came  suddenly  upon  one  another. 
Lord  Howe  and  Major  Israel  Putnam  had  hurried  to  the  fore- 
front of  the  light  troops  when  the  firing  began.  What  happened 
is  best  told  in  the  words  of  Captain  Moneypenny,  who  wrote 
to  Mr.  Calcraft  on  July  11,  1758: 

"Sir:— It  is  with  the  Utmost  Concern,  I  write  you  of  the  Death 
of  Lord  Howe.  Cn  the  6th  the  whole  army  landed  without 
opposition,  at  the  carrying  place,  about  seven  miles  from  Ticon- 
deroga.  About  two  o'clock,  they  marched  in  four  columns,  to 
Invest  the  Brest  WTork,  where  the  enemy  was  Encamp'd,  near 
the  Fort.  The  Rangers  were  before  the  Army  and  the  Light 
Infantry  and  marksmen  at  the  Heads  of  the  Columns.  W'e 
expected,  and  met  with  some  opposition  near  a  small  River, 
which  we  had  to  cross.  When  the  Firing  began  on  part  of  the 


25 


SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON,  BARONET 


26 


FRENCH  AND   INDIAN  WAR  TO    1758  27 

Left  Column,  Lord  Howe,  thinking  it  would  be  of  the  greatest 
Consequence  to  beat  off  the  Enemy  with  the  Light  Troops,  so  as 
not  to  stop  the  March  of  the  Main  Body,  went  up  with  them,  and 
had  just  gained  the  top  of  the  Hill,  where  the  firing  was,  when  he 
was  Killed.  Never  Ball  had  a  more  Deadly  Direction.  It 
entered  his  breast  on  the  left  side,  and  (as  the  Surgeons  say) 
pierced  his  Lungs,  and  heart,  and  shattered  his  Back  Bone.  I 
was  about  six  yards  from  him,  he  fell  on  his  Back  and  never 
moved,  only  his  Hands  quivered  an  Instant 

The  Confidence  the  Army,  both  regular  and  provincial,  had  in 
his  Abilities  as  a  general  officer,  the  Readiness  with  which, 
every  order  of  his,  or  even  entimation  of  what  would  be  agree- 
able to  Him,  was  comply 'd  with,  is  allmost  Incredible.  When 
His  Body  was  brought  into  Camp,  scarce  an  Eye  was  free  from 
Tears." 

His  death  was  indeed  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  British. 
He  had  been  called  "the  brains  of  the  army."  There  were  men 
left  who  could  have  planned  the  attack,  but  it  was  Abercrombie 
who  was  in  command,  and  he  was  not  the  man  either  to  plan  or 
to  offset  the  depression  which  had  fallen  upon  his  men  with  the 
death  of  Lord  Howe.  Montcalm  had  less  than  one-fourth  the 
number  of  men  that  Abefcrombie's  army  contained,  but  Mont- 
calm  himself  had  the  entire  confidence  of  his  troops.  He  con- 
sulted his  generals  as  to  whether  it  was  best  to  make  a  stand 
against  so  great  a  force  of  English,  then,  taking  the  advice  of  so 
old  a  campaigner  as  Monsieur  Pouchot  who  commanded  the 
regiment  of  Beam,  he  decided  to  remain  and  fight. 

The  British  could  approach  in  a  body  only  through  the  woods 
on  the  northwest,  and  in  these  woods,  Montcalm  had  his  men 
hurriedly  throw  up  irregular  lines  of  earthworks.  Abercrombie, 
sitting  disconsolate  in  the  sawmill  below,  gave  him  time  for 
completing  the  defences  and  cutting  down  trees  throughout  the 
wood  to  make  the  passage  more  difficult.  Trees  were  piled  before 
ditches  so  that  only  the  occasional  top  of  a  silver-edged  black 
tricorner  appeared.  Then  fallen  trees  were  dragged  into  position 
with  their  branches  facing  the  enemy,  so  that  an  infantry  attack 
was,  by  foregone  conclusion  destined  to  failure. 


28  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

On  the  morning  of  the  eighth  of  July,  Abercrombie  gave  his 
orders  for  just  such  an  attack.  The  infantry,  unaided  by  any 
artillery  whatsoever,  were  to  go  forward  against  the  French 
outworks  in  the  woods,  take  them  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet, 
and  advance  upon  the  fort.  No  artillery  played  against  the 
breastwork;  Abercrombie  believed  it  unnecessary.  No  cannon 
fired  from  Mount  Independence  or  from  Defiance,  there  was  no 
attempt  made  to  get  between  the  French  and  their  base  of 
supplies.  The  British  were  sent  in  good  marching  order,  left, 
center  and  right,  straight  upon  destruction.  One  can  not 
charge  a  tree  top  with  a  bayonet,  and  to  get  through  a  fallen 
forest  while  muskets  and  swivel  guns  are  firing  directly  upon  one 
is,  patently,  difficult.  Abercrombie  did  send  a  flotilla  down  the 
outlet  to  attempt  to  turn  the  French  left,  but  the  cannon  of  the 
fort  easily  drove  it  off. 

To  Abercrombie  down  at  the  sawmill,  word  was  brought  that 
the  charge  had  failed,  and  his  reply  was  that  the  troops  should 
charge  again.  There  were  six  such  advances  into  the  tree 
defences  made  that  afternoon,  and  then  at  last,  Abercrombie 
was  convinced  that  the  affair  had  failed,  and  having  used  his 
one  idea,  he  fell  into  a  panic,  and  hurried  the  shattered  remnant 
of  his  men  away  in  disorder.  Montcalm,  who  realized  how 
open  to  other  attack  his  position  was,  made  his  defences  even 
stronger  in  the  ensuing  days,  but  the  English  returned  no  more 
in  that  year.  Four  days  after  the  charge,  the  French  lines 
assumed  the  form  they  now  have,  running  in  points  and  zigzag 
lines  along  distance  through  the  woods.  Probably,  much  of 
the  original  plan  was  kept,  and  only  such  places  as  had  proved 
weak,  were  corrected  to  coordinate  with  the  rest  of  the  works. 
Monsieur  Pouchot's  comment  on  this  in  his  "Memoir  upon  the 
War  in  North  America"  is: 

"On  the  eleventh  we  began  to  correct  our  intrenchments, 
having  had  good  occasion  to  know  their  faults." 

Monsieur  Pouchot  has  left  his  tribute  to  the  attacking  force, 
as  well  as  to  the  coolness  and  courage  of  the  French. 

"The  enemy,"  he  says,  "behaved  in  this  attack  with  the  great- 
est bravery,  standing  without  flinching  before  a  terrible  fire  of 


\ 


GEORGE  AUGUSTUS,  LORD  HOWE 


29 


MAJOR-GENERAL  JOHN  SULLIVAN 


30 


FRENCH  AND   INDIAN  WAR  TO    1758  31 

musketry.     They  had  many  killed  within  ten  or  twelve  paces 
from  our  intrenchments." 

The  French  troops  behind  the  ramparts  were  the  battalions  of 
La  Sarre  and  Languedoc  posted  on  the  left  under  Bourlamarque, 
the  first  battalion  of  Barry  and  that  of  Royal  Roussilon  in  the 
center  under  Montcalm,  the  battalions  of  La  Reine,  Beam, 
(Pouchot's  command)  and  Guienne  on  the  right  under  de 
Levis.  A  detachment  of  volunteers  was  stationed  on  the  low 
ground  near  the  breastworks  and  the  outlet  of  Lake  George, 
and  on  the  side  towards  Lake  Champlain  there  were  four  hundred 
fifty  Canadians  and  regulars,  making  about  3600  in  all.  The 
French  seem  to  have  had  no  intention  of  using  Indians,  and  the 
Iroquois  reserve  of  the  English  were  not  brought  into  action,  so 
that  Montcalm,  in  making  his  report  of  the  affair  to  the  Minis- 
ter at  Quebec,  says  that  this  was  probably  the  first  engagement 
in  America  in  which  Indians  were  not  used. 

The  attacking  troops  were  enumerated  by  an  English  officer 
writing  from  Albany  after  the  fight.  He  was  convalescing  from 
a  wound  received  during  the  attack,  and  he  described  the  army 
as  it  had  appeared  on  the  route  down  Lake  George  to  Howe's 
Cove : 

"Rogers  with  the  Rangers,  and  Gage  with  the  light  infantry 
led  the  way  in  whaleboats,  followed  by  Bradstreet  with  his 
corps  of  boatmen,  armed  and  drilled  as  soldiers.  Then  came  the 
main  body.  The  central  column  of  regulars  was  commanded  by 
Lord  Howe,  his  own  regiment,  the  fifty-fifth,  in  the  van,  followed 
by  the  Royal  Americans,  the  twenty-seventh,  forty-fourth, 
forty-sixth  and  eightieth  infantry  and  the  Highlanders  of  the 
forty-second  with  their  major,  Duncan  Campbell  of  Inverawe, 
silent  and  gloomy  amid  the  general  cheer,  for  his  soul  was  dark 
with  foreshadowings  of  death.  Then  came  the  floating  castles  or 
batteries  to  cover  the  landing  of  troops,  and  on  the  right  and 
left  were  the  blue-uniformed  provincials,  the  regiments  from 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Rhode  Island.  After  the  troops  came  the  bateaux  loaded  with 
baggage  and  stores,  then  the  flatboats  containing  the  artillery, 
and  the  last  in  line  was  the  rear  guard  of  provincials  and  regulars. 


32  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

Captain  (late  Major)  Moneypenny  who  chronicled  the  prep- 
arations in  his  orderly  book  at  Albany  and  late  at  Lake  George 
Camp,  has  this  entry  for  July  7,  the  day  before  the  attack: 

"If  time  permits  the  Army  will  be  drawn  up  this  Evening  or  to- 
morrow to  fire  a  rejoicing  Fire  for  the  good  News  the  General  has 

had  from  Louisberg As  there  are  a  number    of 

Indians  expected  this  day  with  Sir  Wm.  Johnson  all  the  troops 
are  desired  to  treat  them  with  the  utmost  Civility." 

Then  for  two  days,  his  book  has  no  entries,  and  on  July  10th 
he  notes: 

"The  general  thanks  the  officers  and  men  for  their  gallant 
behavior  at  the  French  Lines." 

It  is  not  until  the  twenty-eighth  of  August  that  he  records 
the  belated  order  to  the  troops  to  fire  their  "rejoicing  fire" 
for  the  "success  of  His  Majesty's  Arms  in  taking  of  Louisberg." 
'No  account  of  that  disaster  of  1758  is  complete  without  a 
tribute  to  the  Grenadiers  and  Scotch  Highlanders  who  distin- 
guished themselves  with  a  reckless  bravery  that  lifted  the 
wretched  failure  into  something  like  martyrdom  well  met.  The 
Black  Watch,  known  in  1758  as  the  Highland  Regiment  and  as 
the  42nd  Regiment  of  Foot,  left  on  the  field  one  captain-lieuten- 
ant, six  subalterns  and  one  hundred  eighty  men  killed.  James 
Murray  of  this  regiment,  writing  home  after  the  fight  from 
Albany  where  he  was  recovering  from  a  wound  in  the  thigh, 
says  that  the  major,  one  lieutenant  and  six  subalterns  had 
died  of  wounds  since  the  affair,  while  the  colonel,  four  captains, 
twelve  subalterns,  and  two  hundred  eighty  men  were  wounded 
but  still  living. 

This  regiment  was  not  up  to  its  full  strength  in  the  attack. 
Normally,  it  numbered  1300  men,  but  two  companies  had  been 
left  to  garrison  Fort  Edward,  and  a  third  company  had  met  with 
such  foul  weather  on  its  trip  to  America  that  it  has  reached  New 
York  only  a  few  weeks  before,  after  spending  months  at  sea. 
When  it  did  finally  arrive,  Abercrombie  assigned  it  to  Albany. 
The  Highland  regiment,  with  the  55th,  was  to  have  formed  the 
reserve,  but  the  reserve  was  soon  in  the  thick  of  the  fighting 


PERSPECTIVE    VIEW  OF  LAKE 

a,.  FtotO^  Jiatoy.^SBaUtrtna  peiat  of"  Cannon,.  '"'XxWtff 

b  .  Sloop  of  J4  Can-ULa 

c-  .  Diamond  i-LmJ.ij  Mii*  up  dc  LjAr, 


P&rcfSket-Ji-  S/uUf 


Plan  of  Ticonderoga 


ITZe  ftaat.  rrAare,  tfu  SaXDet  are 


Work,.  ttuuUgfFMl  Intt 
[6,  tyntt  'A*  Roast. 


~S  .Aon*//  fort  team*- 

.  TJu  £afubna  ^laee  fir  tfu  Tra*tt  , 


R  .  Tnf.Pfaot  rrfarv  IKffattOte  lay 
S 

Jic  Floor 


MAJOR-GENERAL  JOHN  STARK 


34 


FRENCH  AND   INDIAN  WAR  TO    1758  35 

about  the  tree  ramparts.  A  few  of  the  Black  Watch  under 
Captain  John  Campbell,  forces  their  way  over  the  breastworks 
where  they  were  killed  by  the  French  bayonets.  None  of  the 
regiments  engaged,  came  off  unscathed,  but  the  greatest  loss 
was  to  the  Highlanders.  The  most  eloquent  comment  on  their 
depleted  ranks  occurs  in  the  account  given  by  Stewart  of  Garth: 

"The  old  Highland  Regiment   having   suffered    so   severely 
.     .     .     .     they  were  not  employed  again  that  year." 


CHAPTER  III 

FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WARS — 1759 

THE  year  1758  closed  then  with  only  one- third  of  Pitt's 
plan  carried  out.    Wolfe  had  taken  Louisburg,  but  Quebec 
and  Ticonderoga  were  still  French.     In  the  West,  Fort 
Duquesne  had  fallen  to  the  English,  and  Oswego  was  once  more 
in  British  hands.     Now,  with  Abercrombie  packed  back  to  Eng- 
land where  he  was  "kicked  upstairs"  into  parliament,  Sir  Jeffry 
Amherst  was  made  commander  in  chief  of  the  king's  forces  in 
America  with  instructions  to  march  the   main   army   up   the 
Hudson  and  then  as  far  as  Lake  Champlain,  after  which,  he 
was  to  pass  Ticonderoga  and  unite  with  Wolfe  at  Quebec. 

The  position  of  the  French  at  Carillon  no  longer  had  even  the 
air  of  being  solid.  The  French  government  was  not  granting 
to  the  war  the  support  it  needed,  and  disaffection  was  rife. 
Graft  in  the  matter  of  supplies  had  raised  the  prices  of  necessi- 
ties three  hundred  percent  above  normal,  and  men,  asked  to 
exist  on  one-half  their  usual  rations  in  the  name  of  the  king  and 
the  frivolous  governor  whose  indifference  was  causing  their 
suffering,  failed  sometimes,  of  enthusiasm.  The  French  leaders 
of  the  troops  in  the  field  and  at  the  forts,  however  were  of  the 
best,  and  the  defenses  of  Carillon  had  been  strengthened  after 
Abercrombie's  attack.  General  Bourlamaque,  who  had  been 
wounded  in  the  fight  in  the  French  lines  in  1758,  had  been  left  by 
Montcalm  in  charge  of  the  fort  in  1759. 

The  change  in  the  English  conduct  of  the  war  was  making  itself 
felt,  that  summer.  Wolfe  had  reached  Quebec  with  a  small 
force,  and  Amherst's  army  was  gathering.  Early  in  July,  he 
sent  word  to  Wolfe  that  he  was  about  to  begin  his  march  north. 
On  July  21st,  5743  British  regulars  and  about  the  same  number 

36 


MAJOR-GENERAL  ISRAEL  PUTNAM 


37 


^.s^*,,  ^*^,f*!SjisS!  '**  "  ^S5>!f*^«S^K«**.?^^^'l^/y 

-  c.  «-  ••  ^  -,.»  •>«  -  vj^y;  y  ] 


f/if  TO  TTJV^  ;/^  FORT  <•/ 

CARILLON 

at 

TTCOl^DEROGA; 

•witli 
the  ATTACK  made  by  die 


Engniveil  tj 
Ge?yntp/icr/<i  /i<'sR 
PKLJTCEofWALKS  . 


^/>^",«;:'  :*5 


Pl.V 


sslSfwS 

4^  ,<•?    _V*  -  •i.')    /TV  i 


~ -~--~-- -  ~-~-~-t*: 


40  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

of  American  provincials  sailed  down  Lake  George,  made  their 
landing  and  began  their  march  towards  Lake  Champlain. 

Not  far  from  the  shore,  they  were  met  by  French  skirmishers 
who  delayed  them  a  short  time.  Then,  this  first  outpost  of  the 
enemy  passed  Amherst  took  up  his  position  at  the  sawmill,  and 
the  men  "lay  on  their  arms"  that  night. 

The  French,  meanwhile,  acting  on  orders  from  Canada,  with- 
drew from  the  fort,  completing  their  manoeuver  undiscovered, 
before  daybreak  of  the  next  morning.  Bourlamaque,  however, 
took  the  precaution  of  leaving  General  Hebecourt  with  four 
hundred  of  his  garrison  in  the  fort  to  hold  off  the  British  until 
he  with  the  rest  of  the  French  force,  could  get  away  clear  on 
their  retreat  to  Crown  Point  and  Isle  aux  Noix. 

In  the  morning,  Amherst  and  his  men  moved  up  into  the  in- 
trenchments  in  the  woods.  They  had  brought  their  artillery, 
an  essential  which  Abercrombie  had  omitted  the  year  before, 
and  began  strengthening  their  position  by  means  of  batteries. 

Hebecourt's  four  hundred  greeted  them  with  hot  firing  and 
then  with  an  attack  in  which  the  British  loss  was  sixteen  men 
killed  and  wounded,  a  loss  increased  to  seventy-six  men  in  the 
course  of  the  next  two  days'  fighting.  Very  little  of  the  French 
fire  was  returned,  but  the  digging  and  battery  erecting  went  on 
until  Amherst's  men  had  come  within  600  yards  of  the  fort. 
They  seem  not  to  have  known  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
French  army  had  gone.  On  the  third  night,  Hebecourt  with- 
drew his  men,  leaving  several  mines  charged  for  the  destruction 
of  the  defenses,  and  a  lighted  fuse  headed  for  the  powder  maga- 
zine. There  was  presently  a  tremendous  explosion,  and  the 
place  was  in  flames.  Some  of  the  British  who  had  been  sent 
down  to  the  lake  to  saw  through  the  boom,  reported  that  the 
French  were  leaving,  and  the  ships  were  attacked.  Ten  of  them 
were  captured,  the  rest  making  their  way  to  Isle  aux  Noix  where 
they  joined  Bourlamaque  and  blocked  Amherst's  way  for  a 
time. 

During  the  next  few  months,  Amherst  repaired  the  fort  and 
built  a  splendid  fortress  on  Crown  Point  from  which  the  French 


FRENCH  AND   INDIAN  WARS — 1759  41 

had  also  withdrawn.  Some  skirmishing  with  French  scouting 
parties  took  place,  but  except  for  one  attempt  to  launch  a  small 
fleet  on  the  lake,  an  attempt  foiled  by  the  autumn  gales,  he  made 
no  move  to  go  to  the  aid  of  Wolfe.  The  London  Magazine 
for  December,  1759,  gives  Amherst's  own  account  of  his  unlucky 
lake  expedition,  when  French  sloops  and  a  "quite  contrary" 
wind  drove  the  British  ships  ashore  and  changed  their 
commander's  mind  about  going  on  to  Quebec. 

An  interesting  account  of  the  investure,  from  the  British 
point  of  view,  is  contained  in  a  letter  sent  on  August  4,  1759,  to 
the  Reverend  Stephen  Williams,  by  his  young  friend  Eli  Forbush, 
the  chaplain  of  one  of  the  provincial  regiments  of  Amherst's 
army.  Forbush,  unaware,  naturally,  of  the  French  design  of 
merely  checking  Amherst  on  his  way  to  Quebec,  interprets  the 
withdrawal  as  a  panicky  flight  before  the  British,  but  Eli  Forbush 
had  not  been  on  Carillon  the  year  before.  The  letter  is  too 
long  to  be  inserted  here,  but  even  a  section  of  it  gives  a  vivid 
impression  of  the  advance: 

"The  fleet  reached  Sabbath  Day  Point  by  Day  light,"  he 
says,  "then  the  Invincible  came  to  anchor,  and  ye  whole  fleet 
lay  upon  ye  Ores  till  Break  of  Day,  when  ye  signal  was  given  for 
Sailing,  and  the  whole  landed  without  opposition,  between  ye 
hours  of  nine  and  eleven,  the  22nd,  the  Light  Infantry,  Rangers, 
and  Grenad'rs  marched  immediately  for  the  Mill,  where  they 
found  the  enemy  posted,  in  three  Advantageous  Places,  but  as 
soon  as  they  saw  the  Resolution  and  Dexterity  of  our  advancing 
parties,  they  fled  and  left  ye  grounds  in  our  possession,  and  as 
our  People  got  ye  first  fire  and  received  only  a  running  fire  from 
them,  little  execution  was  done  on  either  side,  we  obtain  three 
prisoners  and  kild  three  on  ye  spot,  and  received  only  a  slight 
wound  or  two  from  them.  The  whole  Army  march'd  forward, 
beside  what  was  necessary  to  gaurd  the  Lanfing  Place,  with  ye 
Vessels  and  stores,  some  were  imploy'd  in  persuing  the  enemy, 
some  in  clearing  the  roads,  and  ye  water  course  from  ye  Mill, 
others  in  taking  possession  of  all  ye  most  advantageous  ground 
near  ye  Fort — the  whole  was  performed  with  ye  greatest  Regu- 


42  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

larity,  ye  least  noise,  a  noble  calmness  and  intrepid  Resolution, 
ye  whole  Army  seemed  to  partake  of  ye  very  soul  of  ye  Com- 
mander. As  ye  enemy  had  not  force  nor  Courage  to  man  ye 
lines  yt  prov'd  so  Fatal  to  our  Brave  Troops  last  year,  we  took 
possession  of  them  without  much  opposition,  and  before  Day  of 
ye  23rd  Began  to  intrench  and  ye  body  of  ye  Army  incamped 
behind  ye  Breastwork,  which  covered  them  from  ye  Enemies' 
fire,  as  soon  as  it  was  light  and  ye  Enemy  perceived  our  Dis- 
position, they  raised  a  smart  cannonade  upon  us,  but  without 
much  Effect,  those  that  were  intrenching  between  ye  Breastwork 
and  ye  Fort  had  by  this  time  covered  themselves,  and  ye  Breast- 
work was  a  Defence  to  ye  Camp,  they  continued  to  cannonade 
and  to  throw  ye  Shells,  and  we  continued  to  intrench,  advancing 
nearer,  the  Gen'l  ordered  yt  no  Fire  shd  be  Returned  upon  ye 
Enemy  (except  in  case  of  Necessary  Defence)  till  He  had  all  ye 
Batteries  ready  to  open  at  once,  and  as  ye  trenches  were  long  ye 
Digging  bad,  the  whole  could  not  be  completed  till  Thursday 
night  ye  26th  or  rather  Fryday  morning  ye  27.  when  ye  Batteries 
were  to  be  opened  at  once,  the  Enemy  seemed  fully  Sensible  of 
ye  Fatal  Consequences  of  such  Heavy  Batteries  for  a  little  after 
midnight  between  ye  26  &  27  they  blew  up  ye  magazine  and 
made  off,  some  by  land  on  ye  east  Side  of  ye  Lake  and  some  by 
Water  with  all  yt  they  could  carry," 

Lord  Amherst's  own  account  of  the  repairs  upon  the  fort  is 
important  for  the  details  which  he  has  given  very  clearly  in  his 
letter  to  Pitt,  dated  August  5,  1759,  and  written  from  Crown 
Point: 

The  27th  of  July,  I  encamped  within  the  lines  and  began  to 
level  the  trenches  and  batteries,  filled  up  the  road  I  had  made 
from  Lake  Champlain  to  the  Saw-mill  river,  for  the  carrying  on 
the  siege,  encamped  four  battalions  of  the  provincials  near  the 
fort  for  repairing  the  works,  sent  500  men  to  Fort  George  for 
provisions  &c,  ordered  all  the  French  boats  to  be  fish'd  up,  and 
the  brig  boats  I  had  ordered  to  be  built  for  carrying  guns,  to  be 
finished  in  all  haste,  that  I  may  be  superior  to  the  enemy's 
sloops  on  the  lake. 


T  1751. 


42ND  HIGHLANDERS,  THE  BLACK  WATCH  1751 


43 


SIK  JEFFREY  AMHERST 


44 


FRENCH   AND    INDIAN   WARS — 1759  45 

28th.  The  fire  was  not  totally  extinguished.  I  forwarded 
everything  as  fast  as  possible,  that  I  might  get  possession  of 
Crown  Point  without  loss  of  time 

31st Ordered  the  fort  at  Ticonderoga  to  be 

repaired  on  the  same  plan  as  the  enemy  had  built  it,  which  will 
save  great  time  and  expences,  as  it  is  but  a  small  part  of  the 
whole  that  is  ruined :  the  cost  the  enemy  has  been  at  in  building 
the  fort  and  houses  are  very  great.  The  glacis  and  covered 
way  quite  good:  the  counterscarp  of  the  glacis,  masonry:  the 
counterscarp  of  the  ditch  masonry.  Two  ravelins  of  masonry 
that  cover  the  only  front  to  which  approaches  can  be  carried 
on.  The  fort  is  a  square  with  four  bastions,  built  with  logs  on 
the  rocks,  which  are  covered  with  some  masonry  to  level  the 
foundation.  The  wood  part  of  it  is  the  worst  finished.  The 
bastion  and  a  part  of  two  courtins  demolished,  but  not  in  the 
front  that  can  be  easiest  attacked.  The  casemates  are  good; 
the  walls  of  the  burnt  barracks  are  not  damaged.  Eleven  good 
ovens  have  helped  us  greatly.  As  the  situation  of  the  fort  is 
very  advantageous  for  the  protection  of  his  Majesty's  domin- 
ions, and  the  approaches  may  be  rendered  as  difficult  to  the 
enemy,  as  they  have  been  to  the  king's  troops,  and  that  there 
is  no  fault  in  it  but  its  being  small,  I  have  thought  proper  to 
have  it  repaired,  which  I  hope  will  meet  with  your  approbation." 

The  fort  was  undoubtedly  in  better  condition  in  1760  when 
the  extensive  repairs  were  completed  than  it  has  ever  been  since. 
But,  though  the  soldier  diaries  of  the  period  tell  of  much  skirmish- 
ing farther  up  the  lake,  especially  around  Crown  Point  and  Isle 
aux  Noix,  there  is  no  record  of  the  use  of  Ticonderoga  except  as 
a  way  station  where  men  going  from  one  post  to  another,  stopped 
for  a  day  or  two,  or  as  a  source  of  supply  for  the  men  engaged  in 
erecting  the  great  fortress  at  Crown  Point.  David  Holden  of 
Groton,  Massachusetts,  a  sergeant  in  the  provincial  troops, 
stationed  at  Crown  Point  in  1 760  kept  a  spicy  journal  of  camp  life 
in  which  there  are  several  mentions  of  Ticonderoga.  For  June 
20th,  he  chronicles, 

"An  Express  went  to  Ticonderoga  a  small  Party  of  men  went 
Down  the  Lake  with  Major  Skeen" 


46  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

The  journal  continues, 

"June  21.  Wet  Day  Cap*.  Whiting  Inlisted  Carpenters  to 
work  in  the  Fort  Cap*  Jeffords  Company  arrived  here 

June  22.    Nothing  Remarkable 

June  23.  This  was  a  wet  Day,  Major  Roggers  arived  here 
from  his  Scout  at  St  Johns,  Brought  in  25  prisoners 

June  24.  A  man  of  the  massachusetts  Received  100  Lashes  for 
his  Insolent  Language  to  his  Ensign  the  Cremonals  name  was 
John  Bunker" 

Probably  garrison  life  at  Ticonderoga  was  much  the  same  as  at 
the  fort  below,  except  that  there  were  no  longer  any  French  in 
the  vicinity,  and,  with  the  need  for  defense  gone,  the  fort  was  not 
kept  in  fighting  trim.  It  was  a  place  to  live  in,  and  it  seems 
typical  of  the  quiet  which  fell  upon  it,  that  the  next  mention  of 
any  life  there  was  when  Ethan  Allen  roused  the  little  garrison 
from  a  sleep,  which,  so  far  as  history  is  concerned,  might  have 
gone  on  from  1760  to  1775. 


MONUMENT  TO  LIEUT.-COL.  ROGER  TOWNSHEND  IN  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY 
(Killed  in  Amherst's  attack) 


47 


Manner^/,*  w/ue/t'/k.  American  Coloiiies5 


48 


CHAPTER  IV 

,     ..*,,,..*  r 

A  TIME  OF  PEACE,  AND  THE  REVOLUTION 

BETWEEN  the  close  of  the  French  wars  and  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution,  there  is  little  record  of  Ticonderoga. 
The  British  held  it,  and  maintained  a  garrison  there, 
sometimes  a  mere  handful,  but  no  fights  occurred  to  make  famous 
the  name  of  any  commandant  between  1759  and  1775.  Among 
the  manuscripts  of  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  is  a  letter  from  Major 
Gavin  Cochrane  written'in  1775  shortly  after  the  news  of  Allen's 
capture  of  the  fort  reached  England.  In  this  letter,  Major 
Cochrane  says  that  he  was  in  command  at  Crown  Point  and 
Ticonderoga  during  four  years  and  feels  in  a  position  to  assert 
that  the  places  are  important  and  should  be  retaken.  Other 
records  show  that  Gavin  Cochrane,  then  a  captain,  was  wounded 
in  the  engagement  of  Abercrombie's  men  at  Ticonderoga  in 
1758  and  that  he  was  busy  about  the  king's  affairs  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  during  1764  and  1765,  after  which  he  went 
to  London  where  there  is  record  of  him  during  1766.  In  1773 
he  asked  for  a  grant  of  land  in  the  region  of  Crown  Point.  His 
command  at  Ticonderoga  may  have  been  from  1767  to  1771  or, 
more  likely,  from  1760  to  1764.  The  Colonial  Documents  of 
New  York  record  that  in  1765  Major  Thomas  James  with  his 
men  came  down  from  Crown  Point  to  New  York  city  to  aid  in 
enforcing  the  Stamp  Act.  Major  James  was  very  probably,  in 
command  of  both  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga  at  that  time, 
since  the  custom  was  to  place  both  forts  under  one  commandant. 
On  February  15,  1767,  Lieutenant-Governor  Carleton  of  Canada, 
wrote  to  Major-General  Gage: 

"The  forts  of  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga  are  in  a  very 
declining  condition  ....  should  you  approve  of  keeping 
up  these  posts,  it  will  be  best  to  repair  them  as  soon  as  possible." 

49 


5Q  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

I  find  no  mention  of  the  garrison  at  Ticonderoga  during  the 
next  five  years.  Then,  in  April,  1773,  a  chimney  at  Crown 
Point  fortress  caught  fire,  and  the  entire  place  was  wrecked  when 
the  stored  powder  exploded  during  the  conflagration.  The  letter 
of  Governor  Tryon  reporting  this,  makes  no  mention  of  any  loss  of 
life,  but  other  records,  as  well  as  the  manner  in  which  the  fire 
was  started,  point  to  the  fact  that  a  garrison  was  there  at  the 
time.  After  this  fire,  active  garrisoning  of  both  places  ceased 
for  a  time,  no  more  than  a  mere  guard  being  left  at  each  fort. 
On  September  1,  1773,  Major-General  Haldimand  wrote  to 
Governor  Tryon: 

"I  have  further  to  observe  that  Crown  Point,  being  entirely 
destroyed  and  unprovided  for  the  quartering  of  troops,  and 
Ticonderoga  being  in  a  ruinous  state,  such  troops  as  might  be 
sent  thither,  would  not  be  able  to  stay  a  sufficient  time  at  those 
posts  to  render  them  of  much  utility. 

"If,  however,  you  persist  in  your  request  and  think  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  send  troops  thither,  I  beg  to  know  the  number  of 
troops  you  will  think  necessary,  &  when  they  may  be  wanted. 
You  will  please  also  to  provide  for  the  expenses  that  attend  their 
transportation  ettc  to  these  Posts." 

Governor  Tryon  did  persist  in  his  belief,  and  Haldimand 
himself  was  sent  to  Ticonderoga  with  the  60th  Regiment.  Prob- 
ably he  did  not  remain  in  actual  command  of  the  fort  long,  since 
his  duties  in  Canada  were  of  first  importance. 

In  June  of  the  following  year,  Governor  Tryon  reported  to  the 
Earl  of  Dartmouth,  that  Fort  Edward  was  abandoned,  only  a 
few  men  being  kept  at  the  works  at  the  south  end  of  Lake  George 
to  facilitate  the  transportation  to  the  next  posts,  Ticonderoga 
and  Crown  Point.  "These,"  he  continues,  "are  both  garrisoned 
by  His  Majesty's  Troops,  but  since  the  fire  which  happened  at 
Crown  Point,  only  a  small  guard  is  kept  there,  the  princi- 
pal part  of  the  Garrison  being  withdrawn  and  posted  at 
Ticonderoga." 

And  in  July,  1774,  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  wrote  to  Lieu  tenant- 
Governor  Cadwallader  Golden  of  New  York: 


feL^^^*^  '$L\  *   % 


MAP  OF  TlCONDEROGA.  BY  JOHN  TRUMBULL,  1776 


51 


MAJOR-GENERAL  CHARLES  LEE 


52 


A   TIME    OF   PEACE,   AND   THE   REVOLUTION  53 

"It  being  under  consideration  to  reestablish  the  Military 
Posts,  either  at  Crown  Point  or  Ticonderoga  or  both;  it  is  the 
King's  Pleasure  that  the  Lands  reserved  for  Sir  Jeffry  Amherst 
for  the  Convenience  and  Accomodation  of  those  Posts,  be  ex- 
cepted  out  of  any  Sales  or  Grants  of  Lands  whatever." 

Early  in  1775,  Major  Philip  Skene  of  Skenesborough,  now 
Whitehall,  and  of  London,  obtained  the  post  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga.  In  1783,  he  was 
asking  for  the  money  due  him  during  his  eight  years'  governor- 
ship. However,  as  he  was  sent  down  to  Philadelphia  as  a 
prisoner  when  Allen  captured  the  fort  in  1775  and  according  to  a 
letter  written  at  that  time,  "has  no  Government  to  go  to",  it 
is  not  probable  that  he  was  able  to  press  his  claims  for  salary. 
He  went  to  England  on  his  release  and  returned  with  Burgoyne's 
army,  aiding  him  in  his  passage  down  towards  Saratoga  and  his 
surrender. 

When  the  Revolution  was  impending,  Ticonderoga  once  more 
became  formidable,  but  as  the  seat  of  war  seemed,  at  first,  to  be 
entirely  in  Massachusetts,  no  effort  was  made  by  the  English  to 
maintain  Ticonderoga  in  the  condition  which  active  warfare 
would  demand.  The  colonists  were  in  rebellion,  but  they  had 
no  one  leader.  It  was  their  unanimity  of  sentiment  that  held 
them  together  and  made  daring  exploits  possible.  They  real- 
ized thoroughly  that  war  was  upon  them,  and  that  their  first 
need  was  for  ammunition  with  which  to  make  their  resistance 
formidable. 

In  the  reports  of  the  Connecticut  Council  of  Safety  we  read 
that  in  April,  1775,  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  Esq.,  Colonel 
Samuel  Wyllys,  Silas  Deane  and  others  undertook  to  seize  the 
enemy's  fort  at  Ticonderoga,  and  having  expended  money  from 
the  state  treasury  in  the  effort,  asked  that  the  receipts  for  their 
expenditures  be  cancelled.  These  three,  with  eight  other 
prominent  men  of  New  England  gathered  the  force  of  men  which 
Ethan  Allen  led.  It  may  be  that  Benedict  Arnold,  who  has 
been  credited  with  suggesting  the  attack  in  the  first  place, 
expected  to  use  this  force,  for  when  he  was  commissioned  by  the 


54  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

Committee  of  Safety  to  seize  Ticonderoga,  he  came  up  to  Castle- 
ton,  Vermont  where  these  troops  were  gathered,  quite  without 
any  army  of  his  own.  The  two  leaders,  both  fiery  and  impa- 
tient of  opposition,  discussed  the  question  of  leadership  angrily, 
and  then  Arnold,  giving  way,  agrees  to  accompany  the  expedition 
without  leading  it. 

Together  they  proceeded  to  Shoreham  on  the  night  of  May 
9,  1775,  and  there  Nathan  Beman,  the  son  of  a  farmer  of  that 
vicinity,  joined  them  as  guide.  The  real  difficulty  was  the 
scarcity  of  boats.  The  few  obtainable  were  rowed  back  and 
forth  all  that  night,  but  by  daybreak,  only  eighty-three  men  and 
most  of  the  officers  had  crossed.  Then  Allen  would  wait  no 
longer,  but  leaving  the  rear  division  under  Colonel  Seth  Warner 
on  the  Vermont  shore,  he  led  his  men  quickly  and  quietly  up 
the  south  heights  to  the  wicket  gate  in  the  wall.  The  sleepy 
sentinel  upon  whom  the  apparition  of  Allen,  Arnold,  and  the 
eighty-three  came  suddenly,  snapped  his  fusee,  but  it  missed 
fire,  and  then  he  fled  back  up  the  steps  and  into  the  court  yard 
with  the  Americans  close  upon  his  heels.  They  followed  him 
to  the  parade  ground  within  the  barrack  square,  and  there  they 
met  another  sentry  who  thrust  at  Colonel  Easton  but  was  quieted 
by  a  sword  blow  from  Allen. 

In  the  parade  ground,  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  formed  in 
two  divisions  with  a  line  of  forty  men  along  each  of  the  two 
ranges  of  barracks.  Then  they  raised  a  shout  which  roused  the 
sleeping  garrison,  and  the  British  rushed  out, — to  be  taken 
prisoners.  Colonel  Allen  asked  where  Captain  Delaplace  was  to 
be  found,  and,  young  Beman  guiding,  ran  up  the  outer  stairs  of 
the  west  barrack  to  his  door.  The  commandant,  roused  by  a 
shout,  sprang  up  and  opened  the  door  upon  a  tall  soldier  who 
demanded  the  instant  surrender  of  the  fort.  Delaplace  had 
received  no  intimation  from  the  British  government  that  a  war 
was  on.  He  and  his  little  garrison  of  forty-eight  men  had  been 
undisturbed  hitherto  in  their  garrisoning  of  the  quiet  old  fort  on 
the  lake,  and  here  suddenly  was  invasion.  The  bit  of  repartee 
which  followed  is  famous: 


55 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  BY  ALLEN 
From  an  old  wood-cut 


56 


A   TIME   OF   PEACE,   AND   THE   REVOLUTION  57 

"In  whose  name?"  asked  the  half-awakened  captain. 

"In  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental 
Congress!"  Allen  replied. 

Lossing  in  his  Fieldbook  of  the  Revolution  states  that  the 
brother  of  Isaac  Rice — now  buried  in  the  fort  cemetery  not  far 
from  the  Montcalm  cross — was  with  Allen  at  the  time,  and  that 
he  reported  Allen's  reply  as  something  rather  stronger.  Like 
Colonel  Whittelsey  of  the  Lost  Battalion,  he  felt  the  occasion 
worthy  of  an  oath.  Lossing  adds, 

''Delaplace  had  about  as  much  respect  for  the  Continental 
Congress  as  Allen  had  for  Jehovah,  and  they  respectively  relied 
upon  and  feared  powder  and  ball  more  than  either." 

Indeed,  Allen  was  exaggerating  in  giving  Congress  as  his 
authority,  for  that  body  was  quite  unaware  of  his  enterprise, 
and  according  to  DePuy  "did  not  meet  for  organization  until 
six  hours  after  the  surrender  of  the  fort."  (P.  209). 

The  spoils  of  the  capture  consisted  of  120  pieces  of  iron  cannon, 
50  swivels,  10  tons  of  musket  balls,  3  cartloads  of  flints,  30  new 
gun  carriages,  a  considerable  quantity  of  shells,  a  warehouse  full 
of  material  for  boat  building,  and  a  large  quantity  of  other 
stores. 

Ethan  Allen,  elated  over  his  success,  promptly  sent  off  letters 
to  Massachusetts  Council  and  the  Governor  of  Connecticut. 
To  the  former,  he  wrote  on  May  11,  1775, 

"Gentlemen:  I  have  to  inform  you,  with  pleasure  unfelt 
before,  that  on  the  break  of  day  of  the  tenth  of  May,  1775,  by  the 
order  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut, 
I  took  the  Fortress  of  Ticonderoga  by  storm.  The  soldiery 
was  composed  of  about  one  hundred  Green  Mountain  Boys, 
and  near  fifty  veteran  soldiers  from  the  Province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay.  The  latter  was  under  command  of  Colonel  James 
Easton,  who  behaved  with  great  zeal  and  fortitude, — not  only 
in  council;  but  in  the  assault.  The  soldiery  behaved  with  such 
resistless  fury,  that  they  so  terrified  the  King's  troops,  that  they 
durst  not  fire  on  their  assailants,  and  our  soldiery  was  agreeably 
disappointed.  The  soldiery  behaved  with  uncommon  rancour 


5g  FORT  TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

when  they  leaped  into  the  Fort;  and  it  must  be  confessed,  that  the 
Colonel  has  greatly  contributed  to  the  taking  of  that  fortress,  as 
well  as  John  Brown,  Esq.,  attorney  at  law,  who  was  also  an 
able  counsellor,  and  was  personally  in  the  attack.  I  expect  the 
Colonies  will  maintain  this  fort.  As  to  the  cannon  and  war-like 
stores,  I  hope  they  may  serve  the  cause  of  liberty  instead  of 
tyranny,  and  I  humbly  implore  your  assistance  in  immediately 
assisting  the  Government  of  Connecticut  in  establishing  a 
garrison  in  the  reduced  premises.  Colonel  Easton  will  inform 
you  at  large.  From,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient,  humble 
servant.  Ethan  Allen. 

"To  the  Honorable  Congress  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  or  Council  of  War." 

On  the  following  day,  Allen  wrote  from  Ticonderoga  to  the 
Governor  of  Connecticut, 

"Hon'ble  Sir:  I  make  you  a  present  of  a  Major,  a  Captain, 
and  two  Lieutenants  in  the  regular  Establishment  of  George 
the  Third.  I  hope  they  may  serve  as  ransoms  for  some  of  our 
friends  at  Boston,  and  particularly  for  Captain  Brown  of  Rhode 
Island.  A  party  of  men,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Herrick, 
has  took  possession  of  Skenesborough,  imprisoned  Major  Skene, 
and  seized  a  schooner  of  his.  I  expect,  in  ten  days  time,  to 
have  it  rigged,  manned  and  armed,  with  six  or  eight  pieces  of 
cannon,  which,  with  the  boats  in  our  possession,  I  purpose  to 
make  an  attack  on  the  armed  sloop  of  George  the  Third,  which 
is  now  cruising  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  is  about  twice  as  big 
as  the  schooner.  I  hope  in  a  short  time  to  be  authorized  to 
acquaint  your  Honour r-  that  Lake  Champlain,  and  the  fortifica- 
tions thereon,  are  subject  to  the  Colonies. 

"The  enterprise  has  been  approbated  by  the  officers  and  sol- 
diery of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  nor  do  I  hesitate  as  to  the 
success.  I  expect  lives  must  be  lost  in  the  attack,  as  the  com- 
mander of  the  George's  sloop  is  a  man  of  courage,  etc. 

"Messrs  Hickock,  Halsey  and  Nichols  have  the  charge  of 
conducting  the  officers  to  Hartford.  These  gentlemen  have 
been  very  assiduous  and  active  in  the  late  expedition. 


6 


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60 


61 


62  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

"I  depend  upon  your  Honour's  aid  and  assistance  in  a  situa- 
tion so  contiguous  to  Canada. 

"I  subscribe  myself,  your  Honour's  ever  faithful,  Most  obedi- 
ent and  humble  servant.  Ethan  Allen. 

"At  present  commander  of  Ticonderoga.  To  the  Hon'ble 
Johnathan  Trumbell,  esq.,  Capt.  General  and  Governor  of  the 
Colony  of  Connecticut." 

Captain  Delaplace's  view  of  the  matter  is  well  set  forth  in 
his  letter  of  May  24  to  the  General  Assembly  and  Governor  of 
Connecticut: 

"The  memorial  of  William  Delaplace,  a  Captain  in  His 
Majesty's  Twenty-sixth  Regiment,  and  Commandant  of  the 
Fort  and  Garrison  of  Ticonderoga,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  the 
officers  and  soldiers  under  his  command,  beg  leave  to  represent 
our  difficult  situation  to  your  Honours,  and  petition  for  redress. 

"Your  memorialist  would  represent  that  on  the  morning  of  the 
tenth  of  May,  the  garrison  of  the  fortress  of  Ticonderoga,  in 
the  Province  of  New  York,  was  surprised  by  a  party  of  armed 
men,  under  the  command  of  one  Ethan  Allen,  consisting  of 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty,  who  had  taken  such  measures  as 
effectually  to  surprise  the  same,  that  very  little  resistance  could 
be  made,  and  to  whom  your  memorialists  were  obliged  to  sur- 
render as  prisoners;  and  overpowered  by  a  superior  force  were 
disarmed,  and  by  said  Allen  ordered  immediately  to  be  sent  to 
Hartford  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  where  your  memorialists 
are  detained  as  prisoners  of  war, — consisting  of  officers,  forty- 
seven  private  soldiers  of  His  Majesty's  troops,  besides  women 
and  children.  That  your  memorialists,  being  ignorant  of  any 
crime  by  them  committed,  whereby  they  should  thus  be  taken 
and  held,  also  are  ignorant  by  what  authority  said  Allen  thus 
took  them,  or  that  they  are  detained  thus  in  a  strange  country, 
and  at  a  distance  from  the  post  assigned  them;  thus  know  not  in 
what  light  they  are  considered  by  your  Honours  consequently 
know  not  what  part  to  act;  would  therefore  ask  your  Honours' 
interposition  and  protection,  and  order  that  they  may  be  set  at 
liberty,  to  return  to  the  post  from  whence  they  were  taken,  or  to 


GENERAL  BENEDICT  ARNOLD 


63 


GENERAL  HENRY  KNOX 


64 


A   TIME    OF    PEACE,    AND    THE    REVOLUTION  65 

join  the  regiment  to  which  they  belong;  or  if  they  are  considered 
in  the  light  of  prisoners  of  war,  your  Honours  would  be  pleased 
to  signify  the  same  to  them,  and  by  whom  they  are  detained, 
and  that  your  Honours  would  afford  us  your  favor  and  protection 
during  the  time  we  shall  tarry  in  this  colony;  and  your  memorial- 
ist shall  ever  pray.  William  Delaplace, 

"Captain,  Commandant,  Ticonderoga  Fort. 

"Hartford,  May  24,  1775." 

There  was  a  British  armed  sloop  lying  at  St.  Johns,  and  Arnold, 
going  there  in  the  schooner  taken  at  Skenesborough  by  Captain 
Herrick,  made  an  easy  capture  of  the  heavy  sloop  with  its  crew 
of  one  sergeant  and  twelve  men.  On  the  twelfth  of  May,  Colonel 
Seth  Warner  took  the  one  hundred  men  of  his  command  down  the 
lake  to  Crown  Point  and  captured  the  place  with  as  little  actual 
fighting  as  had  been  necessary  to  reduce  Ticonderoga.  Skenes- 
borough and  the  fort  at  the  head  of  Lake  George  were  next  taken, 
so  that  within  the  space  of  a  few  days,  both  lakes  had  come  into 
the  hands  of  the  colonists,  and  Washington,  his  greatest  difficulty 
for  the  present  overcome,  sent  Knox  up  to  bring  the  military 
stores  down  to  Boston. 

On  June  23rd,  the  Continental  Congress  which  had  lent  its 
authority  all  unwittingly,  recognized  the  services  of  Ethan 
Allen  and  his  associates,  voted  to  pay  the  men  who  had  been 
employed  in  the  taking  and  garrisoning  of  the  captured  forts, 
and  recommended  that  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  be  employed 
at  once  in  the  army  raised  for  the  defense  of  America,  under  such 
officers  as  the  "boys"  might  choose.  An  election  was  held  soon 
after,  and  the  leadership  of  these  Vermont  troops  was  given 
to  Colonel  Seth  Warner.  Allen,  coming  back  to  Ticonderoga, 
this  time  without  even  a  small  force  of  men,  offered  his  services 
in  whatever  capacity  he  could  be  used.  He  was  sent  with 
Montgomery  on  an  expedition  to  Isle  aux  Noix,  and  then, 
suddenly,  he  went  off  with  a  small  body  of  troops  to  capture 
Montreal.  He  had  expected  to  be  joined  in  this  enterprise  by 
Major  Brown,  but  the  reinforcements  never  came,  and  Allen, 


66  FORT  TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

after  a  brave  but  hopeless  fight,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
British  General  Prescott  and  sent  to  England  whence  he  finally 
returned  through  an  exchange  of  prisoners  in  1778. 

Congress  seems  to  have  made  no  immediate  plans  for  strength- 
ening the  American  hold  upon  Ticonderoga,  for  we  find  Silas 
Deane  writing  soon  after  Allen's  capture  that  there  were  but 
eighteen  men  in  the  fort  and  that  everything  was  in  the  "utmost 
decay."  Benedict  Arnold  remained  for  some  little  time  as 
commandant  and  then  was  superseded  by  Colonel  Hinman  of 
Connecticut.  General  Schuyler  had  been  made  commander 
of  the  army  in  the  north,  but  illness  caused  his  withdrawal 
from  action  before  the  Canadian  expedition  was  far  advanced, 
and  on  June  15,  1776,  we  find  him  writing, 

"As  to  fortifying  Ticonderoga  and  Fort  George  and  opening  up 
the  road  by  Wood  Creek,  it  is  utterly  impossible  with  the  men  I 
now  have  left." 

The  Albany  Committee  of  Safety  had  supplied  some  guns  to 
replace  what  Knox  had  removed  and  had,  during  the  summer  of 
1775,  sent  in  a  small  garrison.  Meanwhile,  the  boat  material 
was  being  put  to  use.  In  the  Journals  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  we  find  this  entry  for  January  8th,  1776: 

"Resolved  that  shipwrights  be  immediately  sent  from  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  to  general  Schuyler,  or  the  commander 
of  the  forces  at  Ticonderoga,  to  be  employed  by  him  in  construct- 
ing a  number  of  batteaus,  not  exceeding  one  hundred,  for 
transporting  troops  with  their  baggage  from  that  place  into 
Canada,  whenever  it  may  be  found  necessary." 

There  were  American  troops  already  in  Canada  when  Congress 
voted  this  measure.  St.  Johns  had  capitulated  to  the  Americans 
on  November  3rd,  1775,  and  the  prisoners  taken  there  by  Mont- 
gomery and  Seth  Warner  passed  through  Ticonderoga  on  their 
way  down  to  the  interior  of  New  England.  The  shattered 
remnant  of  Benedict  Arnold's  force  came  down  from  their 
unsuccessful  siege  of  Quebec  in  June,  1776,  and  stopped  for  rest 
at  Crown  Point.  From  this  time,  no  northern  movement  of 
American  troops  passed  Ticonderoga.  The  conquest  of  Canada 
had  failed. 


MAJOR-GENERAL  PHILIP  SCHUYLER 


67 


MAJOR-GENERAL  HORATIO  GATES 


68 


A   TIME   OF  PEACE,   AND   THE   REVOLUTION  69 

General  Horatio  Gates  became  commandant  at  Ticonderoga 
in  June,  1776,  though  General  Schuyler  remained  there  for  a 
time  and,  as  the  fort  lay  within  his  territory  as  commander  of  the 
northern  army,  recommendations  concerning  it  were  issued  by 
him  during  that  year  and  the  next.  There  was  an  ever  increas- 
ing garrison  that  summer,  and  as  it  came  in,  the  regiments,  the 
majority  of  which  were  those  of  Pennsylvania,  were  assigned  to 
one  or  another  of  the  four  brigades.  The  New  England  troops 
were  not  in  such  good  condition,  nor  were  the  men  so  well  chosen. 
Every  man  who  had  wished  to  enlist,  apparently,  was  accepted 
in  their  ranks,  old,  young,  black,  red,  or  white.  "Damned 
Yankees,"  the  Pennsylvania  men  called  them,  and  sectional 
feeling  ran  high.  Small  pox  broke  out  among  the  troops,  and 
where  the  fresh  earth  was  thrown  up  for  intrenchments,  malaria 
and  ague  wrought  havoc.  The  sick  had  to  be  taken  to  Fort 
George  for  treatment,  since  there  was  no  medicine  supply  at 
Ticonderoga.  They  were  rather  a  dismal  group  of  men  at  times. 
Even  the  few  brass  and  reed  musical  instruments  which  a  New 
England  regiment  had  brought  to  camp,  were  sent  for  by  Con- 
gress, and  had  to  be  packed  and  sent  to  Philadelphia,  probably  to 
be  used  among  troops  on  more  active  service. 

By  fall  there  was  need  of  reinforcements  to  guard  against  the 
new  war  plan  of  the  British.  They  had  failed  to  shut  up  the 
Revolution  in  Boston.  It  was,  undeniably,  going  on  throughout 
New  England.  So,  admitting  this,  the  British  conceived  what 
was  known  as  the  triangle  plan,  an  attempt  to  make  the  Hudson 
River  the  western  boundary  of  rebellion.  Lord  Howe,  the  brother 
of  that  much  loved  Howe  who  fell  near  Ticonderoga  in  1758, 
was  to  come  down  from  Canada  with  the  fleet,  take  New  York, 
spread  out  his  line  across  Connecticut  and  New  York,  and  move 
north.  General  Barry  St.  Leger  was  to  go  down  from  Canada 
to  Niagara,  then  come  east  through  the  Mohawk  valley,  taking 
Fort  Stanwix  en  route,  and  join  Burgoyne  at  Albany.  Sir 
Guy  Carleton  was  to  clear  Lake  Champlain,  take  Ticonderoga. 
and  then,  meeting  his  allies  from  the  south  and  west,  pinch  out 
the  rebellion  inside  the  limits  of  New  England  and  New  York. 


70  FORT  TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

By  this  means,  they  would  also,  as  the  essential  feature  of  the 
scheme,  "bag  the  fox"  who  was  Washington,  and  who  appre- 
ciated fox  hunting  and  had  no  intention  of  being  bagged. 

Towards  the  furtherance  of  this  plan,  the  British  began 
constructing  a  fleet  at  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Champlain, 
and  to  meet  it,  boat  building  went  on  briskly  around  Ticonderoga. 
It  was  during  the  summer  of  1776  also  that  the  works  upon 
Mount  Independence  were  erected.  By  the  first  of  October, 
the  British  fleet  was  ready  to  start  up  the  lake.  It  consisted  of 
the  schooners  Inflexible,  Maria,  Carleton,  and  Thunderer,  and  a 
number  of  gondolas,  gunboats,  and  longboats,  each  of  these 
smaller  craft  carrying  one  gun.  It  was  manned  by  seven 
hundred  seamen  under  Captain  Pringle.  Benedict  Arnold  who 
had  been  holding  part  of  the  garrison  under  Gates  and  quarrel- 
ing with  Colonel  Moses  Hazen  and  the  entire  court  appointed 
to  try  the  Colonel  on  a  charge  preferred  by  Arnold,  was  cata- 
pulted out  of  his  quarrel  into  action  as  commander  of  the  fleet, 
built  by  the  Americans.  This  consisted  of  one  sloop,  three 
schooners,  five  gondolas,  one  cutter,  three  galleys,  and  three 
gunboats.  The  American  crews  were  three  hundred  ninety- 
five  men  gathered  together  without  much  regard  for  their 
previous  condition  of  life. 

Arnold,  whose  generalship  then  was  as  unquestioned  as  his 
daring,  took  his  vessels  down  the  lake  and  disposed  them  behind 
the  island  of  Valcour,  and  there,  the  British  fleet  discovered 
them  on  the  morning  of  the  twelfth  of  October.  The  American 
fleet,  outmanned  and  outgunned,  fought  for  four  hours,  losing 
one  schooner  and  one  gondola,  while  several  other  ships  were 
badly  injured.  Captain  Pausch,  a  Hessian  officer  with  the 
English  fleet,  wrote  in  his  journal: 

"The  cannon  of  the  Rebels  were  well  served;  for,  as  I  saw, 
afterwards,  our  ships  were  pretty  well  mended  and  patched  up 
with  boards  and  stoppers." 

That  night,  the  British  stationed  ships  across  the  lake  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  the  crippled  squadron,  but  in  the  morning, 
the  American  ships  had  disappeared.  Two  of  Captain  Pringle's 


GENERAL  BENJAMIN  LINCOLN 


71 


COLONEL  BARRY  ST.  LEGER 


72 


A   TIME    OF  PEACE,   AND   THE   REVOLUTION  73 

lieutenants  have  left  on  record  a  letter  rebuking  him  for  his 
carelessness  in  the  matter,  and  giving  Arnold  credit  for  a  marvel- 
lous feat  of  craft  and  seamanship.  Pringle's  frigate  which  had 
run  aground  was  set  afire,  and  a  chain  of  bateaux  guarded  the 
passage  so  lighted,  but  the  night  was  foggy,  and  Arnold,  called  a 
council  and  gave  minute  directions  to  his  ship  commanders,  for 
their  order  of  retreat.  The  Trumbull  galley  commanded  by 
Colonel  Wigglesworth,  a  sea-going  landsman  of  the  Massachu- 
setts militia,  led  with  barely  enough  sail  to  give  her  steerage 
way,  and  a  lantern  under  her  stern  so  masked  as  not  to  be  seen 
except  by  those  directly  in  her  wake.  After  her,  the  rest  of  the 
fleet  proceeded,  each  one  lighting  the  trail  dimly  for  the  next  ship 
in  line,  with  intervals  of  two  to  three  hundred  yards  between 
them.  Arnold  himself  brought  up  the  rear,  and  the  whole 
manoeuver  was  conducted  in  absolute  silence,  and  without  the 
enemy's  being  aware  of  the  proximity  of  that  lantern-bearing 
line  of  fugitives.  It  was  a  situation  worthy  of  Rembrandt's 
subtle  lighting,  or  of  Stevenson's  pen. 

Next  day,  the  British  ships  pursued,  and  caught  up  with  the 
Americans  at  noon.  The  fight  went  on  again,  and  five  of 
Arnold's  ships  which  had  been  driven  into  a  bay  on  the  east 
shore,  were  sunk.  The  Washington  was  captured,  and  Arnold, 
in  the  Congress  galley  met  the  brunt  of  the  onset,  covering  the 
retreat  of  his  other  boats  as  long  as  he  could.  The  few  ships 
which  escaped  fled  to  Ticonderoga,  and  thither  Arnold  followed 
with  the  crews  of  the  burned  ships.  Three  of  Arnold's  fleet  the 
Enterprize,  Trumbull  and  Revenge  were  still  moored  to  the  dock  at 
Ticonderoga  in  1777  and  were  sunk  then  during  the  desperate 
effort  of  Colonel  Brown  of  Massachusetts  to  recapture  the  fort. 
In  the  winter  of  1909,  the  work  of  reconstructing  the  old  fort  and 
the  life  and  times  it  represented  was  begun  when  Mr.  Stephen 
Pell  had  the  skeleton  of  the  Revenge  raised  from  the  bottom  of 
the  lake  after  its  130  years  of  submarine  life  and  drawn  up  on 
shore  below  the  ruins  of  the  fort. 

When  news  of  the  disaster  to  Arnold's  fleet  reached  Crown 
Point,  the  Americans  set  fire  to  the  place  and  withdrew  to  join 


74  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

the  force  at  Ticonderoga.  Carleton's  transports,  following  his 
fleet  found  it  ready  for  them  and  stopped  there  to  wait  a  favor- 
able wind.  The  wind,  however,  was  a  good  American  ally  for 
the  next  eight  days,  and  Gates'  army  at  Ticonderoga  spent  that 
time  profitably  in  strengthening  the  works  and  surrounding 
them  with  an  abatis.  Cannon  carriages  were  renewed  and  guns 
mounted.  The  army  with  its  reinforcements  now  numbered 
1200  men.  Besides  Gates,  Generals  Anthony  Wayne,  Benedict 
Arnold,  and  St.  Clair  were  all  at  Ticonderoga,  and  the  orderly 
book  of  the  period  shows  how  constant  were  their  expectations  of 
attack.  For  October  26,  1776,  the  day's  bulletin  runs: 

"In  case  of  a  general  Allarm  one  Gun  will  be  Fir'd  from  the 
Jersey  Redoubt  to  be  answered  by  one  Gun  from  the  Upper 
Redoubt  upon  Mount  Independance.  When  every  Reg  and 
Crps  is  to  repair  to  their  Allarm  Posts.  The  Commanding 
Officers  of  Artillery  on  each  Side  is  to  take  care  that  a  Man  is 
constantly  ready  in  the  Different  Redoubts  to  give  these  Signals. 

"Brigadier  Gen.  Arnold  will  take  the  Command  of  all  the 
Troops  and  Redoubts  in  the  Flat  Ground  North  of  Ticonderoga 
and  off  the  Vessels  which  guard  the  Boom,  the  Stone  Redoubt 
upon  the  Point  included. 

"Brigadier  Gen.  St.  Clair  will  take  command  of  the  French 
Lines,  Advanced  Posts  and  Works  in  the  Rear  of  the  French  Lines. 

"Brigadier  Gen.  Brickett  will  Post  Himself  in  the  old  Fort  and 
have  the  Defence  of  the  Covert  Way  and  Works  depending 
thereon. 

"The  Brigades  upon  Mt.  Independance  upon  a  Signal  of  a 
Gen.  Alarm  being  fir'd  to  repir  to  their  respective  allarm  Posts 
and  receive  and  obey  the  Orders  of  Col.  Stark,  Col.  Patterson 
and  Col.  Enoch  Poor."  (Munsell.) 

But  Carleton  realized,  at  the  end  of  the  eight  days,  that  his 
opportunity  had  passed.  He  waited  at  Crown  Point  until  after 
the  middle  of  November,  and  then,  reembarking  his  army, 
returned  to  Canada  without  striking  a  blow. 

After  his  withdrawal,  Gates  left  to  join  Washington's  army, 
and  General  Schuyler  gave  over  the  command  of  Fort 


75 


GENERAL  RICHARD  MONTGOMERY 


76 


A   TIME   OF  PEACE,   AND   THE   REVOLUTION  77 

Ticonderoga  and  Mount  Independence  to  Anthony  Wayne.  No 
attack  was  expected  until  the  summer  of  1777,  and  to  meet  it, 
Colonel  Thaddeus  Kosciusko  strengthened  the  works  at  both 
places  and  had  a  boom  constructed  to  prevent  the  passage  of 
ships.  The  old  French  lines  on  the  heights  of  Carillon  were 
put  in  order,  blockhouses  were  set  up  at  either  end  of  the  lines, 
and  a  bridge  was  thrown  across  the  lake  to  maintain  communica- 
tion between  Ticonderoga  and  Independence.  This  bridge  was 
of  twenty-two  piers  connected  by  floats  fifty  feet  long  and  twenty 
wide.  The  boom  was  of  large  timbers  fastened  together  by 
double  chains  of  inch-and-a-half  square  iron. 

Wayne  had  in  his  turn,  been  withdrawn  from  the  fort  in  the 
late  spring  of  1777,  and  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  took  command 
of  the  2500  Continental  troops  and  900  militia  at  Ticonderoga. 
There  were  several  needs  which  Congress  had  failed  to  supply, 
the  garrison  was  not  well  equipped,  and  in  a  council  held  on 
June  20  attended  by  General  Schuyler,  General  St.  Clair,  Briga- 
dier General  Roche  de  Fermoy,  Brigadier  General  Enoch  Poor, 
and  Brigadier  General  Patterson,  the  conclusions  were  reached, 
that  the  garrison  was  insufficient,  that  repairs  should  be  under- 
taken at  once  and  that  it  was  only  prudent  to  provide  for  a 
retreat.  It  is  not  therefore,  all  to  be  laid  to  the  door  of  General 
St.  Clair  that  he  made  so  little  resistance  when  Buygoyne's 
army  came  against  him.  He  arranged  his  men  to  meet  an 
attack  through  the  woods  or  from  the  lake,  but  the  British 
general  Phillips  and  his  engineer  Lieutenant  Twiss,  elected  instead 
to  carry  through  a  plan  which  Gates  had  rejected  the  year 
before. 

"Where  a  goat  can  go,  a  man  can  go,"  said  General  Phillips, 
"and  where  a  man  can  go,  he  can  pull  a  gun  up  after  him." 

So  he  ordered  his  men  to  pull  up  their  guns  to  the  top  of 
Mount  Defiance  which  overlooks  Ticonderoga  from  the  south 
west.  The  work  was  done  at  night,  and  on  the  morning  of  July 
5th,  St.  Clair  saw  redcoats  busy  completing  a  battery  with  its 
guns  aimed  for  the  destruction  of  his  works.  He  called  a  council 
at  once,  and  the  general  opinion  was,  wisely  or  not,  in  favor  of 


78  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

immediate  evacuation,  before  the  British  could  attack.  So  the 
day  was  spent  in  packing  and  planning,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
fifth,  stores  and  baggage  were  sent  to  Skenesborough  by  bateau, 
and  the  troops  set  forth  across  the  bridge  to  Independence.  The 
garrison  there  fell  in  behind  the  Ticonderoga  men  and  the 
retreat  to  Castleton  was  undertaken.  Then,  suddenly,  General 
de  Fermoy's  house  in  the  little  French  village  below  the  fort  at 
Ticonderoga  burst  into  flame,  and  by  that  light  the  British 
discovered  their  enemy  making  all  speed  away  from  the  fort.  A 
pursuit  was  ordered,  and  after  a  day's  march  General  Frazier 
of  the  British  army,  overtook  the  American  rear  guard  under 
Seth  Warner.  Warner  met  the  attack  and  held  off  the  British 
long  enough  to  give  the  troops  ahead  of  him  better  chance  to 
escape,  but  he  was  finally  routed  and  his  men  driven  in  dis- 
orderly flight  when  the  British  brought  up  a  second  force  under 
Baron  Riedesel.  There  were  some  prisoners  taken,  and  an 
American  loss  of  324  in  killed  and  wounded,  but  the  greater 
part  of  the  troops  with  their  leaders  reached  either  Castleton  or 
Fort  Edward  in  safety. 

This  left  Ticonderoga  at  Burgoyne's  disposal.  He  cut  the 
bridge  and  the  unfinished  boom  to  the  south  of  it,  pursued  the 
American  galleys  which  were  on  guard,  and  getting  within 
range  of  them  near  Skenesborough  at  three  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  6th,  put  his  frigates  into  action.  He  captured  two  of  the 
American  galleys  and  the  remaining  three  were  blown  up.  The 
crews,  landing,  were  pursued  by  the  British  Ninth  Regiment 
under  Colonel  Hill.  A  band  of  Iroquois  reinforced  the  British 
along  Wood  Creek,  and  the  Americans,  having  fired  Fort  Anne, 
fled  again,  reaching  Fort  Edward  in  safety. 

Burgoyne's  report  to  the  king,  as  published  in  the  London 
Magazine  for  August,  1777,  describes  the  disposition  of  St.  Glair's 
forces  at  Ticonderoga  thus : 

"The  enemy  appeared  to  be  posted  as  follows:  a  brigade 
occupied  the  old  French  lines  upon  the  height  northward  of  the 
fort  of  Ticonderoga.  These  lines  were  in  good  repair,  and  had 
several  entrenchments  behind  them,  chiefly  calculated  to  guard 


GENERAL  ANTONY  WAYNE 


79 


MAJOR-GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 


80 


A   TIME    OF   PEACE,    AND    THE    REVOLUTION  81 

the  north- west  flank,  and  they  were  further  sustained  by  a  block- 
house. To  the  left  of  these  works  about  a  mile,  the  enemy  had 
sawmills,  and  a  post  sustained  by  a  blockhouse,  and  another 
blockhouse  and  a  hospital  at  the  entrance  of  Lake  George. 
Upon  the  right  of  the  French  lines,  and  between  them  and  the 
old  fort,  there  were  two  new  blockhouses,  and  a  considerable 
battery  close  to  the  water's  edge." 

Burgoyne  has  left  almost  the  only  account  of  the  works  upon 
Mount  Independence  as  they  were  in  his  day.  He  continues 
his  report  to  the  king: 

"It  seemed  that  the  enemy  had  employed  their  chief  industry 
and  were  in  greatest  force  upon  Mount  Independence,  which  is 
high  and  circular,  and  upon  the  summit  which  is  table-land, 
were  a  star  fort  made  with  pickets  and  well  supplied  with  artil- 
lery, and  a  large  square  of  barracks  within  it. 

"The  foot  of  the  mount  which  projects  into  the  lake,  was  in- 
trenched and  covered  with  a  strong  abattis  close  to  the  wather. 
This  intrenchment  was  lined  with  heavy  artillery  pointing  down 
the  lake,  flanking  the  water-battery  above  described,  and  sus- 
tained by  another  battery  about  half-way  up  the  mount.  .  .  . 
There  was  a  bridge  between  the  mount  and  Ticonderoga,  which 
was  also  unseen." 

It  was  no  part  of  Burgoyne's  plan  to  remain  at  Ticonderoga. 
He  garrisoned  it  with  one-eighth  of  his  force.  These  troops 
consisted,  in  July,  of  one-half  the  62nd  English  under  Colonel 
Anstruther,  and  one-half  the  Prince  Frederick  regiment  under 
Major  Von  Hiller.  Baron  Riedesel  went  there  on  July  15th 
to  superintend  the  removal  of  the  ships  to  Lake  George.  On 
August  9th,  Brigadier  Powell  was  ordered  to  relieve  the  com- 
mandant at  Ticonderoga,  taking  with  him  the  52nd  English,  the 
62nd  going  on  to  join  Burgoyne;  and  on  September  first,  two 
companies  of  the  53rd  came  to  Ticonderoga.  On  September  23rd, 
they  were  joined  by  St.  Leger's  defeated  force  which  remained 
at  Ticonderoga  until  the  withdrawal  of  the  British  garrison. 

Burgoyne,  meanwhile,  went  on  down  to  put  Into  effect  his 
third  of  the  triangle  plan,  a  campaign  whose  failure  was  due 


32  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

partly  to  Colonel  John  Stark  who  cut  off  a  thousand  of  Burgoyne's 
men  at  Bennington,  to  Benedict  Arnold  at  Saratoga  and  farther 
west  where  he  helped  to  frighten  away  St.  Leger's  men,  to 
Colonel  John  Herkimer  who  routed  St.  Leger  at  Oriskany,  but 
most  of  all  to  Washington  who  knocked  the  bottom  out  of  the 
triangle  by  refusing  to  march  into  it,  and  who,  unable  to  drive 
Howe  out  of  New  York,  pulled  him  out  instead,  across  New  Jersey 
leaving  Burgoyne  unreinforced  and  beset  by  American  troops 
only  too  eager  to  be  avenged  for  the  fall  of  Ticonderoga. 

Meanwhile  the  Americans  were  planning  to  regain  their 
fortress.  It  had  slipped  out  of  their  hands  as  easily  as  it  had, 
the  year  before,  fallen  into  them,  and  it  might,  if  not  retaken, 
serve  to  let  in  more  British  troops.  General  Lincoln  had 
command  then  of  the  troops  north  of  Albany,  and  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  September,  he  dispatched  Colonel  Brown  of  Massachu- 
setts to  undertake  the  capture.  He  was  to  be  supported  by 
Colonel  Warner  whose  duty  it  was  to  take  Mount  Independence, 
and  by  Captain  Ebenezer  Allen  with-  a  party  of  rangers  who  was 
to  take  Mount  Defiance.  Colonel  Woodbridge  with  another 
regiment  was  sent  against  Skenesborough  and  Fort  Anne. 
Colonel  Brown  began  by  capturing  a  number  of  ships,  293 
British  soldiers  and  100  of  the  American  prisoners  taken  in  St. 
Clair's  retreat.  All  this  was  at  the  foot  of  Lake  George.  Then, 
adding  the  released  one  hundred  to  his  own  force,  Brown  moved 
by  night  to  Mount  Hope  two  miles  west  of  the  fortress  of  Ticon- 
deroga. He  gained  possession  of  it,  and  meanwhile.  Captain 
Allen  and  his  men  had  reached  their  objective  on  Mount  Defiance 
and  were  manning  the  batteries  there.  Colonel  Warner  reached 
Mount  Independence,  and  then  for  the  next  four  days,  the 
Americans  held  the  position  which  had  convinced  St.  Clair  that 
Ticonderoga  was  untenable  for  his  men.  But  despite  the  firing 
from  Independence  on  the  east  and  Defiance  on  the  west,  the 
British  under  General  Powell  held  out. 

A  letter  from  Colonel  Brown  to  General  Lincoln  written  in  the 
midst  of  the  affair,  gives  an  interesting  light  on  the  details  of  it : 


GENERAL  THADDEUS  KOSCIUSZKO 


GENERAL  JOHN  STARK 


84 


A    TIME    OF   PEACE,    AND    THE    REVOLUTION  85 

"North  end  of  Lake  George  landing, 
thursday  Sept.  10,  1777. 

Sir;  with  great  fatigue  after  marching  all  last  night  I  arrived 
at  this  place  at  the  break  of  day,  after  the  best  disposition  of  the 
men  I  could  make,  immediately  began  the  attack,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  carried  the  place.  I  then  without  any  loss  of  time  de- 
tached a  considerable  part  of  my  men  to  the  mills,  where  a 
greater  number  of  the  enemy  were  posted,  who  also  were  soon 
made  prisoners,  a  small  number  of  them  having  taken  possession 
of  a  blockhouse  in  that  vicinity  were  with  more  difficulty  bro't 
to  submission;  but  at  a  sight  of  a  cannon  they  surrendered. 
During  this  season  of  success,  Mount  Defiance  also  fell  into  our 
hands.  I  have  taken  possession  of  the  old  French  lines  at 
Ticonderoga,  and  have  sent  a  flag  demanding  the  surrender 
of  Ty  and  of  mount  independnce  in  strong  and  peremptory 
terms.  I  have  had  as  yet  no  information  of  Col°  Johnson's 
attack  on  the  mount.  My  loss  of  men  in  these  several  actions 
are  not  more  then  3  or  4  killed  and  5  wounded,  the  enemy's 
loss  is  less.  I  find  myself  in  possession  of  293  prisoners,  viz. 
captains,  9  subs.  2  commissaries  non  Commissioned  officers 
and  privates  143.  British  119,  Canadians  18  artificers,  and 
retook  more  than  100  of  our  men,  total  293,  exclusive  of  the 
prisoners  retaken. — The  watercraft  I  have  taken  is  150  batteaus, 
below  the  falls  on  Lake  Champlain  50  above  the  falls  including 
17  gunboats  and  one  armed  sloop  arms  equal  to  the  number  of 
prisoners.  Some  ammunition  and  many  other  things  which  I 
cannot  now  ascertain.  I  must  not  forget  to  mention  a  few 
cannon  which  may  be  of  great  service  to  us.  Tho  my  success 
has  hitherto  answered  most  sanguine  expectations,  I  cannot 
promise  myself  great  things  the  events  of  war  being  so  dubious 
in  their  nature,  but  shall  do  my  best  to  distress  the  enemy  all  in 
my  power, — having  regard  to  my  retreat — There  is  but  a  small 
quantity  of  provisions  at  this  place  which  I  think  will  necessitate 
my  retreat  in  case  we  do  not  carry  Ty  and  independence — I 
hope  you  will  use  your  utmost  endeavor  to  give  me  assistance 
should  I  need  in  crossing  the  lake  &c — The  enemy  have  but  a 


g6  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

very  small  force  at  Fort  George.  Their  boats  are  on  an  island 
about  14  miles  from  this  guarded  by  six  companies,  having 
artillery— I  have  much  fear  with  respect  to  the  prisoners,  being 
obliged  to  send  them  under  a  small  guard — I  am  well  informed 
that  considerable  reinforcements  is  hourly  expected  at  the  lake 
under  command  of  Sir  John  Johnson — This  minute  received 
General  Powel's  answer  to  my  demand  in  these  words,  "The 
garrison  intrusted  to  my  charge  I  shall  defend  to  the  last." 

Indeed  I  have  little  hopes  of  putting  him  to  the  necessity  of 
giving  it  up  unless  by  the  force  under  Colonel  Johnson.  I  am  &c, 
John  Brown." 

Colonel  Brown  had  predicted  rightly  that  he  would  be  unable 
to  dislodge  the  British,  though  he  had  embarrassed  them  some- 
what in  handling  their  stores,  and  not  long  after,  reinforcements 
were  supplied  to  Powell,  under  General  Maclean.  Sir  John 
Johnson's  force  stopped  at  Ticonderoga  on  their  way  to  the 
relief  of  Burgonye,  and  then  with  Burgoyne's  surrender,  the 
air  of  the  place  changed.  Powell  began  at  once  to  prepare  for 
retreat  to  Canada.  The  way  was  clear.  The  Americans 
desired  nothing  better  than  to  see  him  go.  He  burned  the  houses 
and  barracks  both  at  Ticonderoga  and  on  Mount  Independence, 
and  then  set  forth,  early  in  Xovember.  Captain  Ebenezer  Allen 
followed  him  with  a  regiment  of  Captain  Herrick's  and  harassed 
the  rear  of  the  British,  taking  from  them  what  supplies  he 
could.  Among  these  captures  were  more  than  one  hundred 
horses,  twelve  yoke  of  oxen,  three  boats,  and  a  slave  woman 
Dinah  Mattis  and  her  child.  With  the  common  consent  of  all 
the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  Dinah  and  her  child  were  set  free, 
after  which  the  rest  of  the  spoils  were  divided  among  the  men  ot 
the  regiment.  During  the  remainder  of  1777  and  from  that  time 
on,  no  garrison  was  maintained  by  the  Americans  at  Ticonderoga 
or  at  Mount  Independence.  This  was  not  at  all  a  desirable 
situation,  but  several  reasons  for  it  can  be  traced  in  the  papers 
and  records  of  that  period.  It  may  be  that  the  Americans 
doubted  their  ability  to  hold  the  forts  with  any  number  of 


SIR  JOHN  BDRGOYNE 


87 


BARON  REIDESEL 
Commander  of  Hessian  Troops 


A   TIME    OF   PEACE,   AND   THE   REVOLUTION  89 

soldiers  that  could  be  spared  from  the  districts  actually  under 
invasion  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  1778 
and  1779  were  terrible  years  for  the  army.  Washington  held  his 
little  remnant  together,  and  by  force  of  his  own  greatness  made 
it  an  army  which  fought  with  his  own  spirit  when  there  were 
uniforms  enough  for  the  army  to  appear  in. 

But  the  line  of  lakes  remained  open  through  those  years.  We 
find  in  the  "Early  History  of  Vermont"  record  that  in  November, 
1778,  incursions  of  the  enemy  were  made  down  the  Champlain 
valley,  "plundering,  burning,  and  destroying  property  of  every 
description  as  far  south  as  Ticonderoga."  In  March,  1779, 
Ethan  Allen  wrote  to  General  Washington  asking  him  to  grant 
relief  to  Vermont  because  the  ice  in  Lake  Champlain  was  break- 
ing up  and  leaving  thus  a  clear  way  for  the  British  to  come  down 
to  "annoy  and  massacre."  There  were  no  men  to  spare.  A  half- 
formed  plan  of  sending  American  troops  to  invade  Canada  once 
more  had  to  be  given  up,  and  the  forts  lay  empty.  Even  so 
early  as  March  1778,  the  records  of  the  Vermont  Assembly  then 
but  newly  formed,  reveal  that  some  persons  "enemical  to  the 
American  cause"  had  been  carrying  away  old  iron  from  Mount 
Indepencence. 

In  the  spring  of  1780,  the  British  appeared  at  various  places  on 
the  northern  frontier  of  Vermont  and  New  York.  Governor 
Clinton  of  New  York,  aided  by  the  militia  of  Vermont  under 
Colonel  Warner  and  Major  Allen  tried  to  check  their  raiding. 
Sir  John  Johnson  with  a  force  of  Tories,  a  few  regulars  and  some 
Iroquois  landed  at  Crown  Point  in  May  of  1780.  Governor 
Clinton  at  once  asked  aid  of  Vermont,  and  a  troop  of  Green 
Mountain  Boys  hastened  to  Ticonderoga.  There  was  no 
encounter  for  Johnson,  avoiding  collision,  marched  some  of  his 
men  south  and  west  from  Crown  Point  and  sent  part  of  his 
raiding  troops  by  way  of  the  valley  of  Sacondaga,  reaching  the 
Mohawk  valley  where  they  inflicted  their  blow  upon  the  New 
Yorkers  of  that  section.  In  October  of  that  same  year,  Major 
Carleton  of  the  British  army,  came  up  Lake  Champlain  to 
Ticonderoga  and  then  across  to  Lake  George.  They  were  not 


90  FORT  TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

met  by  any  American  force  until  they  reached  Fort  Anne  and 
Fort  George  which  they  captured.  Vermont  could  give  no  aid 
this  time.  On  October  18,  1780,  we  find  Colonel  Webster 
writing  Governor  Chittenden  of  Vermont: 

"The  enemy  at  Ticonderoga,  to  the  number  of  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  have  burned  Ballstown  (Ballston)  and  are  on  their 
way  to  Stillwater  or  Fort  Edward.  His  excellency  gov.  Clinton 
is  at  Albany,  and  requested  me  to  inform  your  excellency  as 
above,  and  request  your  assistance  in  order  to  get  ahead  of  the 
enemy  if  possible." 

Governor  Chittenden  replied  that  the  militia  of  Vermont  were 
still  at  the  north  watching  the  movements  of  the  enemy,  but  that 
he  had  called  for  assistance  from  the  Berkshire  militia. 

Indeed  Vermont  was,  at  this  time  in  a  serious  plight.  The 
Continental  Congress  had  refused  her  request  to  be  admitted  to 
the  Union  as  a  state.  She  could  enter  only  by  giving  her  territory, 
her  grants  of  land  which  had  been  in  their  present  owners' 
hands  for  many  years,  to  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  who 
claimed  them,  and  thus  lose  her  identity.  Otherwise,  she  was 
out  of  the  United  States,  and  despite  what  her  soldiers  had  done 
for  the  cause  of  independence,  liable  to  invasion  by  the  common 
enemy  with  no  right  to  ask  for  assistance,  from  the  Continental 
army. 

At  this  juncture,  overtures  of  peace  were  made  by  the  British 
through  a  Tory  soldier  to  Ethan  Allen.  He  promptly  turned  the 
letters  over  to  the  Continental  Congress,  but  even  then  no 
promise  of  union  was  given.  From  that  time  on,  Vermont, 
through  a  secret  commission  of  her  prominent  citizens,  including 
Governor  Chittenden  and  both  Ira  and  Ethan  Allen,  was  in 
communication  with  the  British.  They  did  not  take  the  people 
of  the  state  into  their  confidence.  Vermont  men  were  still 
fighting  the  war  in  the  Continental  army.  Colonel  Seth 
Warner's  regiment  was  called  upon  to  aid  New  York  and  to 
guard  the  frontier  against  the  British,  but  meanwhile,  the  com- 
mission received  and  considered  without  accepting  them,  the 
offers  of  Lieutenant  General  Haldimand  of  Canada,  Major 


MAJOR-GENERAL  WILLIAM  PHILLIPS 


91 


92 


A  TIME  OF  PEACE,  AND  THE  REVOLUTION        93 

Carleton  and  General  Barry  St.  Leger  for  England,  to  erect 
Vermont  either  as  an  independent  state  or  as  a  province  of 
Great  Britain. 

The  Vermont  commission  asked  time  to  consider,  and  mean- 
while, showed  themselves  genuine  Yankees  by  requesting  a 
truce.  To  this,  the  British  agreed.  There  was  to  be  no  invasion 
of  Vermont  and  no  passage  of  troops  through  her  territory  for 
invasion  of  the  lower  colonies.  It  is  significant  of  Vermont's 
attitude  that  though  it  was  New  York's  governor  and  congress- 
men who  were  fighting  the  right  of  Vermont  to  enter  the  union, 
Ethen  Allen  demanded  that  Major  Carleton  who  was  then  at 
Ticonderoga,  include  New  York  down  to  the  Hudson  in  the 
truce. 

The  presence  of  Carleton's  men  at  Ticonderoga  naturally 
alarmed  the  Vermont  people  who  did  not  know  of  the  negotia- 
tions, and  on  October  26,  General  Enos  wrote  General  John 
Stark, 

"Captain  Salisbury  this  instant  returned  as  a  scout  from  the 
Mount  (Independence)  which  he  left  last  evening.  He  lay  in 
sight  of  the  enemy's  works  the  chief  part  of  the  day.  They  are 
repairing  the  fortifications  at  Ticonderoga  and  have  covered  the 
long  barracks.  Nearly  two  hundred  cattle  were  employed  in 
drawing  cannon  &c  from  their  boats.  Behind  the  old  French 
lines  appeared  a  large  number  of  smokes,  where  it  is  supposed 
the  chief  part  of  their  army  is  quartered 

In  a  second  letter  of  the  same  date,  General  Enos  confirmed 
this  information  and  added  that  the  enemy's  force  was  supposed 
to  amount  to  nearly  one  thousand  men.  (Haldimand  papers, 
p.  189). 

On  November  7,  1780,  Stephen  Lush  wrote  to  Governor 
Clinton. 

"The  enemy  are  still  at  Ticonderoga,  nor  can  we  hear  that  they 
manifest  an  intention  of  continuing  down  lower  into  the 
country." 

While  the  Vermonters  and  their  generals  were  kept  in  igno- 
rance, the  game  was  still  being  watched,  though  not  entirely 


94  FORT   TICONDEROGA   IN  HISTORY 

understood,  by  ex-General  Philip  Schuyler  who  wrote  several 
letters  to  General  Washington  about  the  movements  of  the 
British  at  Ticonderoga  and  who  gave  it  as  his  belief  that  "the 
Vermonters  are  playing  a  deep  game." 

Carleton  may  have  been  playing  a  "deep  game"  too.  His 
stay  at  Ticonderoga  has  sometimes  been  considered  part  of  the 
British  design  to  draw  American  attention  from  the  Hudson 
until  Arnold  should  have  completed  his  treasonable  transfer  of 
West  Point.  When  the  capture  of  Major  Andre  revealed  and 
foiled  Arnold's  design,  the  way  was  not  clear,  as  the  British 
had  expected  it  would  be,  for  a  force  from  the  north  to  come 
down  to  Clinton's  aid  by  way  of  the  Hudson.  It  may  be  that 
Carleton  combined  necessity  with  diplomacy  in  letting  the 
Vermonters  believe  that  he  turned  back  at  Ticonderoga  merely 
by  way  of  keeping  the  promised  truce. 

After  he  left,  another  British  force  came  to  Ticonderoga  in 
1781  under  General  Barry  St.  Leger,  and  this  time,  though  secret 
meetings  between  him  and  the  Vermont  commissioners  were 
taking  place  at  the  fort,  an  unfortunate  encounter  between  a 
Vermont  scouting  party  and  one  sent  out  by  St.  Leger,  almost 
upset  the  whole  intricate  scheme. 

Sergeant  Tupper  of  the  American  troops  stationed  at  Castle- 
ton  led  the  scouting  party,  and  coming  suddenly  upon  St.  Leger's 
scouts,  exchanged  shots  with  them,  and  the  American  sergeant 
fell.  St.  Leger,  fearful  for  the  success  of  the  annexation  scheme, 
made  the  mistake  of  treating  the  matter  as  an  unfortunate  acci- 
dent and  apologizing  to  Vermont  for  it  in  an  open  letter.  He 
sent  home  the  body  of  Sergeant  Tupper,  and  by  the  time  the 
escorting  party  had  reached  Governor  Chittenden,  they  had 
acquainted  themselves  with  the  contents  of  St.  Leger's  letter 
and  were  most  indignant  over  the  disclosure  it  made  of  friendly 
dealings  with  the  British.  They  told  the  people  who  came  out 
to  inquire  about  the  procession,  and  the  procession  grew.  At 
the  capital,  they  demanded  explanations,  and  Ira  Allen  attempt- 
ing to  answer  them  diplomatically,  found  himself  in  a  dangerous 
position.  There  was  almost  a  riot,  and  finally,  the  commis- 


O 

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95 


96  FORT   TICONDEROGA  IN  HISTORY 

sioners  hastily  forged  a  second  letter  from  St.  Leger  minus  any 
friendly  feeling,  denied  the  contents  of  the  first  letter  and  pro- 
mulgated the  second. 

The  news  of  Cornwallis'  surrender  at  Yorktown  halted  the 
proceedings.  The  commissioners  had  stated  all  through  their 
dealings  with  the  British  that  they  would  prefer  to  see  Vermont 
one  of  the  United  States,  but  that  there  seemed  no  hope  of  such 
an  end,  and  that  independence  or  becoming  British  were  the 
only  alternatives.  Now,  the  commissioners  told  St.  Leger 
that  they  feared  the  news  from  Yorktown  would  make  the  people 
most  unwilling  to  deal  with  England  with  either  a  view  to 
becoming  a  province  or  accepting  her  protection  as  an  independent 
state.  Consequently,  about  the  first  of  November,  St.  Leger 
withdrew,  and  from  then  until  the  terms  of  peace  were  arranged 
Vermont  was  unaware  whether  the  British  would  include  her  in 
the  territory  given  up  by  Great  Britain  or  deal  further  with  her. 

During  those  years,  Vermont  conducted  her  government  as  an 
independent  state,  and  finding,  in  1783  that  no  exception  was 
made  in  the  treaty's  terms,  to  her  land,  but  that  she  was  simply 
freed  from  colonydom  along  with  the  rest  of  the  American 
settlements,  renewed  her  fight  to  be  admitted  as  a  state.  New 
York  finally  agreed  to  settle  her  claims  to  Vermont  land  for  the 
sum  of  $30,000,  and  in  1791,  she  entered  the  Union. 

St.  Leger's  garrison  was  the  last  ever  quartered  in  the  old  fort. 
It  had  been  partially  destroyed  in  1759  by  the  withdrawing 
French  force,  rebuilt  by  Lord  Amherst  in  that  and  the  following 
year.  Then,  it  had  fallen  into  some  disrepair  as  a  defensive  sta- 
tion during  the  years  between  the  French  wars  and  the  Revolu- 
tion. Its  guns  were  removed  in  1775  to  aid  in  the  protection  of 
Boston.  It  was  refurnished  with  munitions  that  same  summer 
by  the  Albany  Committee  of  Safety,  and  was  put  into  fighting 
trim  under  General  Gates  in  the  summer  of  1776.  The  redoubts, 
the  French  lines  and  the  blockhouses  were  all  in  repair  at  that 
time.  St.  Clair  in  his  reports  during  the  summer  of  1777  states 
that  six  weeks  of  repairs  are  needed  to  put  the  fort  and  its  sur- 
roundings into  the  condition  necessary  to  meet  an  attack.  These 


97 

repairs  were  not  all  made  when  Burgoyne's  army  menaced  and 
captured  the  place. 

In  the  fall  of  1777,  when  General  Powell's  troops  withdrew, 
they  destroyed  the  works,  though  there  is  no  record  of  how 
thorough  a  job  they  made  of  it.  St.  Leger's  men  undertook 
extensive  repairs,  in  1781,  but  again  there  is  no  record  of  the 
actual  condition  in  which  they  left  the  place.  The  fact  of  their 
presence  and  that  they  withdrew  without  firing  the  fort,  is  evi- 
dence that  it  was  left,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  in  a  condition 
to  house  a  garrison.  Yet,  by  the  time  that  it  is  first  mentioned 
in  guide  books  or  put  on  record  after  the  war,  it  had  fallen  into 
such  a  state  of  ruin  as  war  had  not  been  able  to  produce  in  it. 
Left  unguarded,  it  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  very  people  whom 
it  had  long  served  to  protect. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PELL  FAMILY 

THE  connection  of  the  Pell  family  with  Fort  Ticonderoga 
runs  well  over  the  century.     William  Ferris  Pell,  son  of 
Benjamin  Pell,  of  Pelham  Manor,  Westchester  County, 
passed  several  times  up  and  down  Lake  Champlain,  and  taking  a 
fancy  to  the  place  built  a  house  on  the  Lake  front  in  1806.     He 
did  not  buy  the  property  until  1818.     It  had  been  granted  to 
Columbia  and  Union  Colleges  jointly  in  1790,  and  the  Colleges 
would  probably  not  sell.     In  1818,  however,  he  got  title  to  the 
garrison  grounds  consisting  of  a  1500  yard  circle  from  the  south- 
west bastion  of  the  Fort. 

In  1825  the  first  house  was  burned,  and  the  present  one  erected 
and  named  the  "Pavilion,"  after  the  residence  of  the  Regent  in 
Brighton,  England.  The  family  spent  their  summers  here  until 
18.39  when  Archibald  Pell,  son  of  William  F.  was  killed  by  the 
explosion  of  a  cannon.  He  was  firing  a  salute  in  welcome  of  his 
Father,  who  was  arriving  on  the  steamer  from  Whitehall.  Mr. 
Pell  was  so  affected  by  the  death  of  his  favorite  son  that  he  never 
returned  to  Ticonderoga.  The  house  was  used  as  a  hotel  for 
many  years,  and  during  the  period  when  the  Northern  tour  was 
fashionable  (in  the  fifties,  sixties  and  seventies)  a  convoy  of  four 
horse  stages  was  used  to  convey  travelers  from  the  head  of  Lake 
George  to  the  old  Steamboat  Landing  under  the  Grenadiers 
Battery.  A  stop  was  made  for  lunch  at  the  "Pavilion"  and  to 
visit  the  Fort.  When  William  F.  Pell  took  possession  of  the 
place  he  found  the  Fort  in  a  ruinous  condition,  both  from  the 
ravages  of  time  and  the  depredation  of  the  country  side.  The 
old  Fort  proved  a  convenient  quarry  when  building  material 
was  needed,  and  much  of  the  cut  stone  from  windows  and 
doorways  was  removed.  However,  Mr.  Pell  did  his  best  to 

98 


THE    PELL   FAMILY  99 

protect  it,  carefully  fencing  in  the  French  line  and  the  numerous 
redoubts.  In  time  underbrush  and  trees  grew  up  and  preserved 
them. 

The  Northern  Traveler,  a  guide  book  the  second  of  edition  of 
which  was  published  in  1826,  mentions  that  "Mr  Pell,  the 
proprietor  of  the  whole  Peninsula  of  Ticonderoga  has,  on  the  spot 
formerly  occupied  by  the  King's  Garden,  a  fine  garden,  abounding 
in  the  choicest  fruits  and  plants  imported  from  Europe  and  from 
the  celebrated  nurseries  of  Long  Island." 

From  1840  to  1909  the  property  was  managed  (at  long  range) 
by  various  members  of  the  family.  James  K.  Pell,  Captain 
John  Howland  Pell  and  Major  Rowland  Pell,  each  in  turn  took 
charge.  In  1909  Stephen  Pell  bought  out  the  other  heirs  and 
with  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Pell's  father,  Colonel  Robert  M.  Thompson, 
proceeded  to  repair  the  Fort  and  put  the  "Pavilion"  in  livable 
condition. 

The  west  barracks  has  been  made  into  a  museum  of  Indian, 
French  and  Revolutionary  relics  and  manuscripts,  and  the 
Museum  Library  is  one  of  the  largest  and  best  in  the  country  on 
the  subject  of  Lake  Champlain  and  its  history.  The  Restoration 
has  already  gone  far  enough  to  give  an  excellent  idea  of  what  it 
was  like  in  its  years  of  active  service,  walls  have  been  repaired 
and  guns  mounted.  Further  excavation  and  rebuilding  halted 
by  the  Great  War  will  be  resumed,  and  in  the  meanwhile  the 
old  Fort,  which  withstood  the  assaults  and  invasion  of  two  wars, 
and  which  has  endured  for  almost  two  centuries  is  in  its  present 
condition,  one  of  the  most  fascinating  and  memory-haunted 
monuments  of  American  History. 

Thousands  of  visitors  visit  the  Fort  each  year,  and  pay  tribute 
to  the  glories  of  the  Past. 


100  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America.     Justin  Winsor. 

Journals  of  Robert  Rogers.     Edited  by  Hough. 

Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain.     Butler. 

The  Fall  of  New  France.     Hart. 

Memoir  upon  the  War  in  North  America.     M.  Pouchot. 

Champlain  Valley.     Watson. 

The  French  War  and  the  Revolution.     Sloane. 

The  Black  Watch  at  Ticonderoga.     Richards. 

Fort  Ticonderoga.     A.  C.  Bossom. 

Fort  Ticonderoga.     H.  Pell. 

With  Ethan  Allen  at  Ticonderoga.     W.  Bert  Foster. 

Ethan  Allen.     De  Puy. 

Orderly  Books  of  Captain  Moneypenny. 

Letter  of  Eli  Forbush  to  Rev.  Steven  Williams,  August  4,  1759. 

History  of  the  War  in  America.     London,  1780. 

History  of  Canada.     Mills. 

Vermont.     Rowland  E.  Robinson. 

The  Real  Benedict  Arnold.     Codman. 

Arnold's  Campaign  &  Melvin's  Journal.     Henry. 

Arnold's  Expedition. 

Benedict  Arnold.     Hill. 

Journals  of  Congress  1774-1776. 

Field  Book  of  the  Revolution.     Lossing. 

First  American  Civil  War.     Henry  Belcher. 

Gates,  Arnold  and  Stark.     Headley. 

Vermont,  Seth  Warner,  etc.     Hall. 

A  Narrative  of  Col.  Ethan  Allen's  Captivity.     Allen. 

Reader's  Handbook  of  the  American  Revolution.     Winsor. 

Schuyler.     Lossing. 

Vermont  State  Papers. 

Oriskany,  Bennington,  Saratoga.     Stone. 

Vermont  Historical  Collections,  (Haldimand  Papers). 

Capture  of  Ticonderoga.     Lucius  E.  Chittenden. 

Rt.  Hon.  J.  Burgoyne.     E.  B.  Fonblanque. 

Manuscripts  of  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,     Vols.  I  and  II. 

Diary  of  the  American  Revolution.     Moore. 

Pausch's  Journal. 

Burgoyne's  Orderly  Book. 

Digby's  Journal,  1776-1777.     Baxter. 

Centennial  Address.     Joseph  Cook. 

Historical  Ticonderoga. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  10l 

Three  Military  Diaries.     S.  A.  Green. 

Dairy  of  Joshua  Pell,  Jr.,  1776-1777. 

Memoir  of  His  Times.     Graydon. 

St.  Glair's  Courtmartial.     N.  Y.  Historical  Society  Publication. 

N.  Y.  Historical  Association,  Vols.  X  and  XI. 

Documents  Pertaining  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  Vols.  I,  VII, 

VIII,  IX,  X. 

Miscellanies.     Schuyler  De  Peyster. 
History  of  Essex  County.     Watson. 
Miscellaneous  Correspondence.     Martin,  1756-1758. 
London  Magazine,  Bound  volumes  1758-1759,  1760. 
Journal  of  Samuel  de  Champlain. 
Conquest  of  Canada.     Jones. 
American  Historical  Record. 
Voyages  of  Champlain,  Vols.  I  and  II. 
Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World.     Francis  Parkman. 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe.     Francis  Parkman. 

Collection  de  Documents  Relatifs  a  la  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France. 
The  Fight  for  Canada.     W.  Woods. 

Lake  George,  Schroon  Lake  and  the  Adirondacks.     DeCosta. 
Sir  William  Johnson.     Buell. 
The  American  Revolution.    John  Fiske. 
Memoirs  of  My  Own  Times.     Gen.  James  Wilkinson. 
History  of  Essex  County,  N.Y.     Watson. 
Knox's  Journal,  Vols.  I  and  II. 
Annals  of  Ticonderoga.     John  H.  Pell. 


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